At 00:11 on 3/12/17 Station 38 along with Station 45 (Alert), 46 (Minquas), 49 (East Brandywine) and RIT 47 (Lionville) were dispatched to the 200blk of Meadowlake Dr in the Preserve at Milltown for the building fire. Initial reports were from a neighbor reporting a fire alarm going off and what they believed to be smoke coming from a pipe on the roof and possibly the windows. Assistant 38 (Taylor) made the response and shortly after was advised by the dispatcher that Caln Twp Police were on scene reporting a working fire. At this time Assistant 38 requested the working fire dispatch.
Assistant 38 arrived on scene with heavy smoke showing from the 2nd floor. Engine 38 arrived on scene with a crew of 5 and stretched an 1 3/4 handline to the front door. Crews made entry and were met with zero visibility and high heat conditions on the 2nd floor. Lt 38C and Lt 49 began to do a search for the fire while the hoseline crew began to flow water to help cool down the interior. During that process crews from Ladder 49 who were just arriving began to ventilate from the 2nd floor and also the roof to allow smoke and heat to escape so interior crews had better conditions to work with. Once the apartment was ventilated visibility improved and crews found the fire in the kitchen area of the residence. As interior crews were working on knocking the fire down Assistant 38 requested a 2nd Alarm to assist with manpower and checking for extension in adjoining apartments.
Engine 49-5 arrived on scene and the 5 inch from Engine 38 was connected to Engine 49-5 so they could supply E-38 while E45 arrived and reverse laid from E49-5 to the hydrant. Rescue 38 also made the response and laid in from another hydrant to the other side of the fire building and supplied Engine 46 who had a handline in service on that side of the building checking on the exposures. Ladder 49 and Ladder 41 both placed their aerials in service and had crews on the roof cutting vent holes to allow the heat, smoke and gases to escape. The fire was placed under control in just under 1 hour and crews remained on scene checking for further extension and wetting down hot spots.
Crews battled tough conditions including extreme cold and icing conditions outside. Once all hose was picked up and trucks were restored crews were released from the scene.
What a lot of people don't realize is this doesn't mark the end of the call for us. The members from Station 38 then had to return to station to get the trucks and gear back in shape to be put back in service. This is where we would like to send a very big THANK YOU to the crew from Po-Mar-Lin Rescue 36 who was at Station 38 covering our local while we were operating at the fire. Upon our arrival back at station they didn't hesitate to help us begin to clean all the hose that was used and stack it to dry properly, get dry hose out to be placed back on the trucks and much more. Your help was very much appreciated and didn't go unnoticed. Once all the hose was clean, dry hose was placed on the trucks, tools, ladders, air packs and gear were cleaned, air bottles filled and several other items were done the Engine and Rescue were finally ready for the next run. With it being daylight savings time and losing an hour crews didn't leave the firehouse until almost 05:30 in the morning.
A great job was done by all with far from ideal conditions. We would like to Thank all our mutual aid companies for their assistance. More Photos from IrishEyez Photography can be found of their Facebook page.
