Volunteers Serving Springfield Township
Squad 6 and its Rapid Intervention Team (R.I.T.) responded to a confirmed dryer fire at the Ambler Fabric Care Center Coin Laundry. The fire was rapidly knocked down by crews from Wissahickon Fire Company (Station 7), Fort Washington Fire Company (Station 88), and Centre Square Fire Company (Station 33), and traffic and crowd control was handled by fire police from Station 7 and Station 33. (Photos by Bob Wilmot, Jr.)
Torrential rains, a bit of wind, tornado warnings and more rain, Hurricane Irene which moved into the Delaware Valley on August 27 and 28, 2011 had it all. Flourtown Fire Company responded to several emergency calls including several water rescues of drivers from their vehicles, electrical fires in homes and downed wires. Our neighboring fire company, Barren Hill, in Whitemarsh Township had its hands full with rescues of residents from the western side of the Wissahickon Creek along Stenton Avenue. Meanwhile Flourtown’s water rescue team which was split amongst both Squad 6 and Engine 6 were requested to conduct several searches along the banks of the Wissahickon Creek for several missing residents. It was an unprecedented storm and several members even bedded down at the firehouse for the night on Saturday night, although no one slept very much. Over 6 inches of rain swelled area streams and creek beds and causing flooding throughout Springfield Township.
(Photo by Bob Wilmot, Jr.)
Some future firefighters received hands-on training and experience as part of Wissahickon Fire Company’s annual Firefighter Camp. In the photo above, Chief George Wilmot is joined by Deputy Chief Mike Frye with three of the camp graduates, from left to right, Lexi Wilmot, Mitchell Seltzer and Jake Frye.
The popular Firefighter Camp is a supervised 4-evening camp designed to give participants a taste of firefighting. The 2011 Firefighter Camp was held July 5, 12, 19 and 26 – 6:30 to 9:30 pm. At camp, participants learned:
Under close supervision, participants will don protective gear and utilize fire apparatus/equipment to extinguish actual training fires. This experience will incorporate the same basic principles that the volunteer and career firefighters of Montgomery County follow every day as they protect our community. Flourtown Fire Company would like to thank Wissahickon Fire Company for hosting the camp and its sponsors Schneider Plumbing, Ambler Savings & Loan, Feast & Fancy catering, and B&Z Cabinets. The camp is hosted by the Wissahickon Fire Company, and assisted by the North Penn, Flourtown and Centre Square Fire Companies.
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.
Sunday morning March 21st, Flourtown was invited by Wissahickon Fire Co. to an acquired structure for roof ventilation training. A group of members took full advantage of this seldom training opportunity. They were able to learn and fine tune their skills, using vent saws, working off of roof ladders and venting a roof working off of the main. Flourtown would like to thank Chief John Leadbeater and the Wissahickon Fire Co. for the invitation.
Photos by: Robert Wilmot Jr.
Station-7 (Wissahickon) was originally dispatched for the building at 10 Maple Ave. in Ambler Boro. 03/06/10
Chief-7 arrived on scene with a confirmed fire in the basement of a three story abandoned factory with limited access to the building. With that report, County radio dispatched Squad 6 as the RIT team.
Due to the condition of the property and building, crews were having a challenging time getting water to the area of the building where the fire was located. After this assessment of the conditions, Chief-7 struck the 2nd Alarm for manpower, which added Ladder-6 to the assignment to supplement Squad-6′s crew.
Crews cleared in approx. 3 hrs.
Flourtown Fire Company was honored to help welcome home, SPC Andrew Trotto home from Iraq, along with bikers from Warriors’ Watch, Philadelphia Police Department, Springfield Police Department and hundreds of friends and family. SPC Trotto was welcomed home to his cousin’s home on W. Wissahickon Avenue in Flourtown. Independence Day Weekend, July 2009.
Officers from the Flourtown Fire Company and Wyndmoor Hose Company were invited to attend the Wissahickon Fire Company Firefighter Camp Graduation. Both Flourtown and Wyndmoor had future junior firefighters participate in the camp. Congratulations Guys!
From left: Wyndmoor Chief Fran DePaul, Wyndmoor Captain Pete Bistline, Wyndmoor Camper Patrick Dolan, Flourtown Camper Dave Brierly, Flourtown Camper Greg Fasold, Flourtown Lieutenant Chris Manning, Flourtown Assistant Chief Chris Buckley.
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.”
