Volunteers Serving Springfield Township
The Boy Scouts hold an annual week-long camp at Fort Washington State Park. As a way to celebrate the end of a long, hot week, the Boy Scouts hold a water battle and invite Flourtown Fire Company to add some “extra” water to the festivities. Using the deck gun on Engine 6, and supplemented by Squad 6, we make it rain for over 100 boy scouts and friends.
On January 16, 2011, Flourtown responded as a RIT team to assist Ft. Washington Fire Co. (Sta. 88) at the scene of a non-commercial building fire.
Fortunately, there were no injuries, and the property was saved.
Photo by: R. Wilmot
Tuesday, April 6 @ 22:13hrs Station 7 (Wissahickon) and Ladder 18 (FDMT) were dispatched to the area of McKean Rd. and Rt.309 for the commercial building fire. Chief 7 went on location at the new YMCA (under construction) with flames from the roof. County dispatched Squad 6 to assist as the R.I.T. Crews extended hand lines to the roof to extinguish the roofing material and trash that was burning. Squad 6’s crew stood-by till members cleared the roof.
Thursday April 8th@ 00:21hrs Station 88 (Fort Washington) with Engine 7-3 and Ladder 7 (Wissahickon) were dispatched to Stuart Ln. for the dwelling fire. LT. 88-1 went on scene with a ranch style house with fire from the roof, and possible entrapment. Squad 6 due on the box, as the R.I.T was dispatched. Crews stretched an 13/4″ hand line to knock the fire while primary and secondary searches were performed and were negative.
Later that day @ 21:43hrs Station 7 with Tower 88 were dispatched to 400 N. Bethlehem Pk. for smoke from the air vents. While crew’s investigated the possible sources, the smoke condition was getting heavier in the building. with this report Chief 7 had Squad 6 dispatched to assist as the R.I.T. Fire was found to be in an outside air intake pit. 7 command put the fire under control and released Squad 6.
Thursday afternoon at 15:53hrs Stations 6 (Flourtown), 82 (Wyndmoor)and 700 (Oreland) were dispatched to the 300 blk. of Penn Oak Rd. for the dwelling. PD arrived on scene reporting smoke showing with fire on the 1st floor. Engine and Chief 6 arrived confirming PD’s report, confirming all occupants out of the building with a dog still inside. Engine 6 crew stretched an 13/4″ line into the first floor and found a heavy smoke condition with minimal fire. They were able to make a quick knock on the fire with a pressurized water can, while Ladder 6 and Rescue 82’s crew laddered the building and removed the uninjured pet. 700’s crew set up fans for ventilation. Rescue 88 (Fort Washington) for RIT and Tower 29 (Barren Hill) were also dispatched on the confirmed fire procedure, but were quickly recalled by Deputy 700 who had 6 Command.
By Tim Ernst, President & Firefighter Flourtown Fire Company
January 6, 2008
The scenario was modeled after building collapses that take place all over the world everyday. It used technology developed after 9/11 and Oklahoma City that allow rescuers the time needed to make progress in this type of emergency and learn what needs to be done. The training scenario involved two victims trapped in a three story building where the second floor partially collapsed onto the first and the third floor completely “pancaking” onto the second. In the end it would take over 50 firefighters, over five hours with hundreds of feet of air hoses, ropes, and many air packs to rescue both victims and it all took place in a 20-foot trailer in the parking lot of Flourtown Fire Company on Sunday.
Personal Protection Equipment Specialists, Inc. from Lincoln University, PA provided the confined space/building collapse trailer to Flourtown, Wyndmoor, Oreland, Wissahickon, Fort Washington, Green Lane fire companies and Springfield Ambulance. The drill began with each firefighter getting their blood pressure and pulse checked by Springfield Ambulance personnel to set a base line. Then after the teams of two or four firefighters donned self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) and entered the darkened maze of tilting floors, shifting building debris, wires, and obstacles, where they removed the debris and brought in shoring equipment to inch their way to the victims – their vitals were checked again upon exiting the trailer. According to Chief George Wilmot, III of Flourtown, “We organized the fire companies and ambulance squads as we would in a real emergency and we learned a lot today. It was nice to work together with all the other companies and work side-by-side with their personnel and equipment. The lessons learned today in training will help us acquire the equipment and training needed to further strengthen our response.”
After 22 teams of firefighters had entered the simulator and five hours of crawling on hands and knees through the pitch black maze the two victims were reached, their “injuries” assessed and they were packaged up and removed from the collapse zone. “It really opened our eyes to how many firefighters it takes in such a situation, we had over 100 firefighters here today and for each one that went in, it took 8 to 12 outside supporting them,” said Robin Liberty a firefighter with Flourtown Fire Company. Wilmot concluded, “By assessing the vitals of each firefighter and recording the amount of time they could stay in the hazardous environment on a regular SCBA bottle we learned a great deal about our capabilities. Each company promised to share their photos and videos from today and critique their performance. Everyone I’ve talked to enjoyed the training today, it was a long day, but well worth it.”
