On Saturday January 30th, 2010 the CCFR dispatched the Pomeroy Fire Company along with Westwood, Modena, Parkesburg and Ladder 43 for a house fire at 37 Lyons Lane in East Fallowfield Township at 1111 hours. Multiple calls into the CCFR were received from near by residents advising heavy fire from the roof area. East Fallowfield police (47PD) arrived on-scene and advised one house fully- involved. Engine 29-5 (4) made the response at 1116 hours with Captain 29 (OIC). Engine 29-5 arrived on-scene and laid the 5' inch down the driveway. Captain 29 Dalmas assumed Lyons Lane Command and updated the CCFR with a working house fire. Engine 44-5 arrived shortly after and was advised to connect to the 5' and supply Engine 29-5.
Lyons Lane CP immediately called for a first alarm tanker task force due to that portion of East Fallowfield having no fire hydrants. Ladder 43 arrived a short time later but was unable to get up the street due to the tight streets. All units were given the orders to park along Strasburg Road and have their crew report to the rear of 29-5 where the manpower pool was being setup. Rescue 28 arrived on-scene and assisted with fire suppression.
Tankers from Martins Corner, Cochranville, Atglen, Christiana 5-2 (Lancaster County) and West Bradford were dispatched on the First Alarm Tanker Assignment. Chief 26 assumed the water supply officer and worked to have tankers supply Engine 44-5 at the top of the driveway on Lyons Lane.
Fire Suppression crews made entry into the dwelling but there was extensive fire coming from the dwelling. Lyons Lane Command requested more assistance for fire suppression and a request for additional manpower. The extreme cold weather made fire firefighting efforts difficult. Manpower pulls were being established so crews could rotate in and out on an on-going basis.
At 1140 hours Lyons Lane Command was taken over by Chief 29 Tribbett, and Captain Dalmas continued with operations. (The Chief's responded from CCDES at training and observed the header at 30 bypass and 100).
Tac 34 was added for Air, Chester County Fire Marshals and Peco were requested along with with two more additional engines from Atglen, one engine from Sadsbury and two additional BLS units one from Westwood and one from Washington Hose Company along with Medic 93.
Red Cross was notified for the family and EMS personnel had rehab set up for the firefighters working in the extreme cold weather. The Ambulance 29-1 and Rescue 28 were used as heating sources for the firefighters to keep warm during re-hab.
One additional engine was requested for more manpower. Oxford (Station 21) was added to the assignment along with Lancaster County Christiana (5-2) for the second tanker for additional manpower.
At 1230 hours Lyons Lane Command placed the situation under control with all units working. At this point a long overhaul process was needed as the size the house contributed to extensive work load, let alone the cold frigid weather that the crews were dealing with.
At 1245 Lyons Lane Command started to release the tankers that were utilized for the water supply, and broke down the water shuttle operation. Manpower was utilized for the extensive overhaul process from all companies working on-scene.
Rescue 27 was requested as the second air-bank to assist with filling bottles, along with Engine 5-1-1 (Bart) and Tanker 4-3 (Gordonville) from Lancaster County that were standing-by in Pomeroy and Westwood Fire Company for man-power.
At 1439 hours units were cleared from the incident and the operation was shutdown. Lyons Lane Command terminated the incident and all units cleared.
Special thanks to Christina Fire Company 5-2 for returning to Station # 29 to assist with getting Station 29 units back into service. Special thank you to the Little Chef Restaurant for providing food and refreshments for the personnel operating on this incident.
The Pomeroy Fire Company would like to thank all mutual-aid companies that assisted for this incident. The cold weather was a factor along with the fast moving snow storm that moved into the area.
