| On Wednesday, April 4th, 2012, at 1249 hours, the Christiana Fire Company was alerted for a second call in the district for a woods fire at 30 Upper Valley Road in Sadsbury Township. Station 5-2 crews were already on the scene of a dwelling fire on Simmontown Road just outside the borough.
LCWC received the call at 12:43 hours with the caller reporting they could see flames in the woods to the rear of their house but it was not threatening any of the homes in the area. With the working fire dispatch within our district, LCWC dispatched other companies to assist with covering the woods fire.
First alarm assignment included Brush 5-2, Engine 5-7-5 as a brush unit (Quarryville) and an engine out of Chester County Station 27 (Cochranville). Tanker 5-1-2 (Bart) was alerted at 12:49 hours. Engine 5-7-5 arrived on the scene at 13:02 hours and confirmed a fire involving about an acre and a half of woodland near Upper Valley and Orchard Buck roads. Engine 5-7-5 took control of Command and requested a 2nd alarm assignment for additional equipment and manpower.
While the fire companies were enroute, residents in the area used rakes to try and keep the fire from spreading deeper into the woods.
The second alarm brought out Tanker 5-7 (Quarryville) and then 2 brush units from Wagontown (Chester County Station 35) and one from Oxford (Chester County Station 21).
Safety Officer Maser went enroute with Squad 5-2 from the dwelling fire and took over command for the incident so that all available manpower could be used in fighting the fire quickly to prevent any further spreading due to the windy and dry weather conditions.
With the extent of involvement to the area, a request was made from Command 5-2 to LCWC for additional tankers for water supply. Tanker 4-3 (Gordonville) made response to the scene at 13:17 hours with Tanker 4-9 (Whitehorse) making their response from the dwelling fire at 13:14 hours. Captain Lofgren (5-2) was able to leave his place of employment and report to the station to bring Tanker 5-2-1 to the scene. Captain Lofgren, upon his arrival, took over Command which allowed Safety Officer Maser to monitor the fire and report to Captain Lofgren of the current needs.
DCNR Forestry Warden 17, 17-1 and 17-2 were requested to the scene to help determine the cause of the fire.
Crews were on the scene for about two hours working to extinguish the fire.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
The Christiana Fire Company would like to "strongly discouraged" people from burning things outside. The fire danger is extremely high right now because of weather conditions and these type of fires have been a significant problem for a lot of fire companies.
Thanks also to Chester County Station 44 (Westwood) for providing a standby in our station. |
