05/23/13 | 03:28 | FATAL 2ND ALARM | ALLENTOWN | BOX 4435 | 2427 S. 4TH STREET | FIRE ON TOP FLOOR AND THROUGH ROOF OF APARTMENT BUILDING | TOWER LADDER IN OPERATION | MULTIPLE LINES STRETCHED | PERSON FOUND DEAD MAY NOT BE A FIRE VICTIM | 1 FIREFIGHTER INJURED AND TRANSPORTED TO HOSP VIA EMS
Allentown, Pa. - Allentown Box 2744 was transmitted for 2339 Fairview Street on a structural fire. Engines 10, 9, 11, Truck 2, Engine 6 (F.A.S.T.) and Bn 43 (J. Hess) responded on the box.
Battalion 43 arrived and reported smoke showing from a 1-story S/F/D. Companies found a porch fire that extended to the attic of the dwelling. Hand lines were stretched while Truck 2 members went to the roof to open it up.
Two additional engine companies were called to the scene for manpower, making this fire a 2nd alarm equivalent. Engines 4 and 13 were assigned as the additional companies.
This was the 2nd fire for the 1st platoon Friday night. The platoon is working with less firefighters because they are under-staffed during this shift.
Allentown, Pa. -Saturday: Allentown Box 2261 was transmitted for a house fire for the 500 block of North Jute Street at 02:40 sending Engines 4, 9, 6, Truck 2, Engine 13 (F.A.S.T.) and Battalion 43.
Battalion 43 arrives at 02:42 and reports heavy smoke showing from 542, a 3-story M/O/R and signals a working fire. Engine 4 stretches a hand line to the second floor and darkens down the fire and then advances to the top floor for a search and to check for extension.
Engine 9 already stretched a dry line to the top floor, while Truck 2 checks exposure 2 for extension and a search.
Battalion 43 holds the fire to the 1st alarm assignment.
At 11:38 AM Allentown box 2938 is transmitted for a house fire at 29th and Greenleaf Streets, sending Engines 10, 9, 6, Truck 2, Engine 4 (F.A.S.T.) and Battalion 43. Engine 10 arrives and reports smoke showing from a 2-story S/F/D. Engine 10 stretches in for a kitchen fire.
Battalion 43 arrives and takes command for 917 N. 29th Street. Engine 9 takes the hydrant at 29th and Greenleaf. Engine 10 reports a cooking incident and reports the fire out.
Battalion 43 sends Engine 9 to the second floor for a search. Engine 9 finds fire in the walls on the 2nd floor above the kitchen. 43 reports heavy smoke pushing from the rear.
9C requested a hand line to the second floor for a fire in the closet. 43 signals a working fire. Crews cut the roof to ventilate.
Companies hold this fire to the 1st alarm assignment. Photo by Jayson Wagner.
Catasuaqua Police responded to the 300 block of Church Street for a disturbance. Once on scene, the officer called for a 10-44 - officer needs help. Units from Whitehall and North Catasauqua were sent there for to back-up the officer. The unruly subject was shot with a Taser gun multiple times. EMS was requested to the scene and they transported the person to a local hospital.
Friday: A working fire in a duplex at 1074 Wilkes-Barre Street in Easton was called in at 19:53 hours. The fire tore through 1074 and 1072 Wilkes-Barre Street before the fire was under control two hours later. You can see video, photos and the story by clicking here.
Around 22:10 Hours, Allentown sent Engines 10, 4, 9, Truck 2, Engine 11 (F.A.S.T.) and battalion 43 to 221 N. 22nd Street for a fire. Engine 10 arrived and reported smoke showing and stretched a hand line to the basement for an electrical fire.
Easton, Pa. - Easton station 20 was dispatched at 19:53 hours for a reported house fire with possible entrapment at 1074 W. Wilkes-Barre Street. Arrival of the first due engine reported fire in the eaves of a 2.5-story duplex. A person that was in 1074 escaped the fire before the firefighters arrived.
Wilson Borough 24 was requested for R.I.T. at 20:05 hours. With fire rapidly extending, Wilson Ladder 24 was requested at 20:12. Command also requested an Engine and Ladder from the City of Bethlehem. Bethlehem City was short an engine for the evening so they could only send Ladder 1.
Easton off-duty firefighters were called to the scene. Palmer Township sent apparatus to the city to cover city fire stations.
Wilson Ladder 24 was set-up for an elevated water stream on Wilkes-Barre. Wilson also had an engine in the rear alley with multiple lines stretched. Bethlehem Ladder 1 staged at Berwick and Packer. The supply line to the Wilson engine in the rear alley was delayed due to a dead hydrant on Berwick Street. Companies tied into another hydrant and eventually found a working hydrant.
Easton had two engines positioned in front of the duplex with multiple lines stretched. Command eventually had the evacuation tones sounded and all members were ordered out of the dwellings. The attack went defensive shortly after arrival.
Lower Macungie, Pa. - Lehigh County Fire Radio sent Stations 30 (Wescosville) and 25 (Trexlertown) to the address next to 1203 Tee Court for a house fire at 21:40 hours Tuesday night.
First arriving companies found a 2-story Middle-of-Row (M/O/R) with heavy smoke showing. A size-up of the property revealed heavy fire venting out of the 1st floor rear (side 3) and up to the roof.
Crews stretched in and made an interior attack, quickly darkening down the bulk of the fire and stretched another line to the rear exterior. Other companies checked exposures on both sides for extension.
Firefighters retrieved a dog and a few cats from the fire building. Lehigh Valley C.A.R.T. responded to render aid to the pets. In the last photo you see C.A.R.T. members attending to a dog in back of the pick-up truck.
Firefighters remained on the scene for a few hours doing extensive overhaul and making sure all the fire was extinguished.
Lehigh Township, Pa. - The call came in at 11:00 PM Wednesday night for a dwelling fire at 443 Washington Drive, located just south of the Borough of Walnutport. Lehigh Township Chief 47-51 (Hildebrand) arrives on location and reports heavy fire on the first floor of the 2-story Single-Family-Dwelling and to use caution he has downed power lines and a propane tank venting on the front porch.
Lehigh Township's engine stretched 5 hand lines. The only other piece of apparatus in front of the house was Walnutport's engine. The house was at the end of a long driveway and 47-51 had only two engines operating while all other companies staged their trucks out on Washington Drive.
Companies were ordered to do an exterior attack from the start due to the heavy fire consuming most of the house.
The homeowner was reported to be inside. His car was in the driveway but the neighbors nor the firefighters knew his whereabouts. The coroner was later called to the scene.
The home was surrounded by piles of wooden pallets making access difficult.
Companies from Northampton, Lehigh and Carbon Counties assisted Lehigh Township Fire Department in battling the blaze.
Allentown, Pa. - Box 5117 was transmitted at 4:03 PM for a house fire with possible entrapment at 1019 Wyoming Street. The assignment consists of Engines 11, 9, 14, Truck 2, Engine 4 (F.A.S.T.) and Battalion 43 (Wehr).
Enroute, dispatch advises the police are on location reporting an active fire. Battalion 43 signals smoke showing from the 8th Street Bridge. When he arrives, he transmits a working fire in a 2-story duplex with fire on side 3 (rear). Engine 4 arrives as the F.A.S.T. company and the Captain reports heavy fire in the rear.
Chief Wehr reports a possible propane tank on fire. The first-due engine stretches into the main fire building and Engine 14 stretches a second line to the exposure. The fire appears to have started in the rear of 1017 and spread quickly to side 2 (1019). Both dwellings were heavily involved.
At 16:10, Battalion Chief Wehr strikes the 2nd alarm, bringing in Engines 6, 13, Air 1, Chief 40, 46, 48 and 47. Engine 10 was moved up to Central Station to cover Engine 4.
Ladder 2 was positioned in the rear alley and put their master stream in-service. Engine 11 and 9 were positioned in the front of the building and Engine 6 was positioned in the alley with ladder 2.
A total of 5 lines were stretched and operating. The fire was under control by 17:15 hours. All searches were negative.
Bethlehem Township, Pa. - Early Tuesday Morning April 2, 2013 around 0200 hrs Bethlehem Twp. Stations 14 and 17 were dispatched to the 3900 Blk of Hecktown Road for a reported house fire.
The caller reports a fire in the basement and police arrive and reported a working fire. Fire crews are greeted with heavy smoke conditions throughout and fire showing from the basement in the rear and requested the box be filled for the 1st alarm assignment.
Lines are stretched into the basement and truck crews start to open up. The fire extends to the first floor venting out the side windows another line is run into the first floor. All searches are negative with a resident going to the hospital with burns and smoke inhalation. One firefighter is transported for a minor ankle
injury.
The fire was placed under control in about an hour and crews cleared after overhaul and fire watch. Township crews were also assisted by units from Hecktown, West Easton (F.A.S.T.), Steel City, Palmer, Hanover, Freemansburg and Bethlehem Twp EMS.
Allentown, Pa. -At 7:15 AM Box 2536 was transmitted for 228 N. West Street for a house fire sending Engines 10, 4, 9, 6 (F.A.S.T.), Truck 2 and Battalion 43 (Henrick).
Engine 10 and Chief 43 arrived and reported heavy fire on the 1st floor of a 3-story Middle-Of-Row (M/O/R) and called it a working fire. Crews stretched a hand line and knocked down the fire on the porch and advanced in to the interior.
Battalion Chief Henrick struck the 2nd alarm for an additional 2 engines, engines 11 & 14. Volunteer companies were called to stand-by at their respective stations for the city.
Crews quickly darkened down the bulk of the fire and conducted searches on all 3 floors and those searches were negative. Companies gained entry to the adjoining homes to check for extension.
Companies operated on the scene for about two hours overhauling and assisting the fire marshals office in their investigation. Chief 46 (Laubach) was requested to the scene with his K-9 partner to assist in the investigation.
Photographs by Dennis Wetherhold Jr.and Mike Nester.
Coal Township, Pa. - On Monday March 18, 2013 at 09:20 hours the Coal Township Fire Department (Maine, Union, Forrest Hills, East End, Brady, and Fairview Fire Companies,) Coal Township Rescue Squad and AREA EMS were dispatched to 516 Webster St. in Coal Township for a house fire. The incident was located in the Ranshaw section of Coal Township.
Kulpmont Fire Chief 200 who lives across the street informed the dispatcher it was a working fire. He can see smoke and flames coming from the 2nd floor of the rear of the home. The fire continued to spread quickly and began to move to the attic and the roof. The fire was located on the left side of the double home. Neighbors assisted an elderly woman who lives next door out of her home to escape the fire.
The Coal Township Fire Chief arrived on the scene and established incident command. The fire quickly spread into the attic and start to spread into the next door home’s attic. He then quickly requested the second alarm to the working fire in the double home structure. The second alarm brought Shamokin Ladder 32, Shamokin Rescue 62, Shamokin Liberty Engine 21 and the remaining of the Coal Township Fire Department.
Brady Engine 151 was on scene first and established a water supply from a hydrant at 6th and Webster Streets. Union Engine 131 arrived and established a water supply from a hydrant at 5th and Webster Streets. The Engine 151 crew deployed a number of hose lines and made an offensive attack to stop the fire. Fire fighters enter the home with multiple hose lines to find and attack the fire. The Maine Fire Company Engine 111 established third water supply at 6th and Main Street and laid into the scene. Engine 111 staged behind Engine 151 and sent its crew to help with the interior attack. Shamokin Engine 21 staged to the rear of the structure on Maple Street. The additional arriving fire fighters assisted the first engine crews in stretching a hose line to the rear of the residence to attack the fire from the rear.
Incident Command assigned the additional arriving Coal Township and Shamokin units to assist the first in companies in fighting the fire. Command then had Mount Carmel Rescue and Kulpmont Engine 221 respond to the scene to assist with RIT operations. The third alarm was then placed on stand by for a possible response to the scene.
Shamokin Ladder 32 staged on the Alpha-Delta Corner of the home and sent its ladder to the roof. The Ladder 32 sent its crew to the Side Alpha to throw ground ladders and to do ventilation. The additional Shamokin rescue and engine crews backed up the attack crew and entered the next door residence and stopped the spreading fire in the attic.
The attic of both homes became well involved and began to vent through the roof on the home on the left. In minutes the conditions in both homes attic worsen with chance of a major collapse becoming possible. Incident Command then activated the evacuation signal and had all personnel leave both homes. In a matter of minutes the fire vented from both homes roofs causing a collapse into the second floor. Command then ordered multiple large hose lines and portable master stream monitor placed into operation. Engine 151 used its deck gun to shoot water at the large flames coming from the roof. Ladder 32 then placed its elevated master stream into service and aimed for the collapsing roof. The Kulpmont Engine 221 and Rescue 5 arrived on the scene and its crews to the front and back of the home to provide RIT operations.
It was then learned that a water pressure problem surfaced and started to hamper the master stream operation. Command then ordered a number of tankers trucks to the scene to establish an addition water supply. Tanker trucks from outside Coal Township were brought in and established a shuttle system. A refill site was the established on Route 61 near the Walmart.
The next twenty minutes of master stream operations caused the flames in the attic to disappear. The smoke and fire conditions in the rest of the home improved and allowed for and interior attack. Fire fighters re-enter the home with hose lines and attacked the fire in the second floor and attic. Fifteen minutes later the fire fighters had the fire under control. Fire fighters remained on the scene for a few hours to mop up and prevent rekindles. AREA EMS stood by on scene and provided rehab to the cold fire fighters.
Video, Photos and Story by our Coal Region Correspondent Stephen Barrett.
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