On Tuesday around 1700 hours the RTFD went out for a report of a working house fire located on Elton Road just directly across the Luther P. Miller Company.  The Duty Chief (Meyers) went on the air and was given the report by communications that they had numerous calls on this incident and confirmed that a large garage was on fire.  The Battalion Chief (Ellsworth) and Truck 3-1 (FF Zelek) followed behind and arrived just directly after the Duty Chief.  The Duty Chief arrived on the scene and established the “Elton Road” command and confirmed that the RTFD did have heavy fire evident in a large garage.  The Battalion Chief handled the forward command while The Truck took the water supply directly across the address and dropped hose while taking the address up to the drive way.  The crew from the Truck immediately went to go to work on the fire by pulling many lines including the blitz fire.   Due to the extensive fire load in the garage, the fire extended to a second large structure on the Charlie side of the building.  Engine 3-3 (FF Bicko) and Engine 3-1 (Lt. Meyers) arrived along with the Rescue Squad (FF Dadey) with assisting the crews from the Truck to put a good knock on this large fire.  Engine 3-2 arrived on the scene and handled the water supply on Elton Road feeding to the Truck.   After a  short period of time the fire was under control with massive overhaul needed to be completed by all crews.  All crews worked overhaul for well over 3 hours due to the amount of vehicles, equipment and debris inside the garage area.  All 3 units where placed back into service by the Elton Road Command just over 3-1/2 hours into the incident.  The RTFD had 32 volunteers handling this fire while Franklin Fire and Lower Yoder Fire handled the stand by operations while the RTFD was out on this report.  Good Job to all!

Nice timing: An extra hour of sleep Sunday morning after Saturday’s Halloween hoopla. The end of daylight saving time also serves as a reminder of that annual home-safety task: replacing the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon-monoxide detectors. 

 If you don’t know how old your smoke or CO alarms are, perhaps it’s time to replace them altogether. A new survey from First Alert found that nearly one-fourth of Americans haven’t replaced their smoke alarms in more than six years, if ever. The company says a typical, well-maintained smoke alarm can provide about 87,000 hours of service: about 10 years. It also recommends testing your alarms once a month.

The survey also found that nearly half of American homes don’t have a carbon-monoxide alarm. Yet this is the time of year when the risk of deadly carbon-monoxide poisoning goes up, as we crank up the furnace and oven and use our fireplaces. Kitchen stoves actually are the most common source of CO poisoning in the home, so don’t forget to use the vent.

Read about the RTFD smoke alarm program

http://www.tribune-democrat.com/local/local_story_303231513.html

Stay tuned for further….

October 24, 2009 in the mid morning, the RTFD went out to a report for bells ringing at the Comfort Inn Hotel located on Theater Drive in the township.  The Duty Chief (Ober) went on the air just as Engine 3-1 (Heffelfinger) followed behind.  The Duty Chief arrived on the scene with nothing evident on side Alpha and established the “Comfort Inn” command.  As the Duty Chief started inside for the investigation, he encountered smoke on the ground floor of the establishment.  This assignment was put out as a smoke in a building bringing additional resources to the scene.  Engine 3-1 arrived and their crew went to investigate the cause.  Engine 3-3 (Guizio) was given the assignment to reverse lay if needed for a water supply.  Truck 3-1 (C. Meyers) arrived shortly after and was placed on side Charlie/Delta of the building.  As crews inside investigated, they found the cause to be a dryer fire that caused the smoke throughout the facility.  The Comfort Inn command downsized the assignment to Engine 3-1 and Engine 3-3 and sent back all other units.  As the crews where cleaning up, they came across the family and their dog that was saved by the RTFD from the previous 1st due fire from this past week.  The RTFD was glad to see that dog was doing well under the circumstances.  All units where placed back into service just over 20 minutes into the incident.

Yesterday @ 1546 hours the RTFD went out to a report of an auto into a house located at 300 Hostetler Road.  The Duty Chief (Ober) arrived on the scene with the same report but took the incident up to a double entrapment.  The Duty Chief established the “Hostetler Road” command with our Deputy Chief (Meyers) taking the forward command.  The Rescue Squad (Guizio) arrived shortly after and went directly into operations by handling patient care and taking the complete roof off for patient extrication.  Engine 3-1 arrived and placed a safety line in service for precautions as well assisted the rescue crew.  Extrication time was within minutes of the assignment and the RTFD handed over the patients to the awaiting East Hills EMS for transport.  All 3 units where placed back into service just over 45 minutes from the initial report with total staffing of 13 at the incident and the RTFD had two full crews standing by at 1321 firehouse for any other incident if it would occur.

Today @ 11:53 hours the RTFD went out to a report from communications for a house on fire located at 171 Gerry Lane in our 1st due response area.  Duty Chief (Ober) went on the road within seconds of the report with Engine 3-1 (Guizio) and Truck 3-1 (Ellsworth) following behind.   The Duty Chief arrived  on the scene and established the “Gerry Lane” command and gave the update as a working house fire with fire evident in the kitchen area with possible entrapment with one vehicle located in the driveway.   Engine 3-1 was first arriving and was given the assignment to handle a primary search.  Captain Guzio and his crew gained entry into the first floor to handle the operations as the Truck arrived and was set to handle fire suppression and assist with primary search.  The crew from the Truck ran the 200ft line from Engine 3-1 and put a quick knock on the fire and contained the fire to the kitchen area.  The Rescue Squad (Meyers) arrived shortly after and handled the secondary search and completed overhaul operations.  Engine 3-3 (Ream) arrived and handled the water supply operations.  As crews handling the secondary search, then started to vent the house as this was being completed, they found a dog located in the house and immediately took it outside to start reviving the animal.  O2 was placed on the dog and was transported by our Duty Chief to the closest veterinarian hospital in which was located in our 1st due.  The dog is recovering at this time at the hospital from the incident.  All units where placed back into service with having a knockdown time of  8 minutes and total staffing of 14 volunteers.  Not bad for a first due daylight house fire with minimal staffing..We still can get it!

This was the first house fire for the new wagons (Engine 3-1 & 3-3) since  they have been in service..it’s on!

October 11, 2009 in the early morning around 0315 hrs the RTFD went out to a report of an auto accident with entrapment located on Eisenhower Blvd near Old Walsall Road.  3 Assistant (Ober) as well as 3 Captain (Kabler)  arrived on the scene confirming the report of one entrapped with partial ejection with the vehicle on it’s roof.  With the Rescue Squad having a slight mechanical issue in the beginning of the incident, Engine 3-2 arrived on the scene first.  The tool from Engine 2 went in service to take the drivers side door off.  At that point the Rescue Squad, Engine 3-1 and Squad 3-1 arrived to assist with extrication of the patient.  Engine 2 pulled a handline and placed it as a safety line until the incident was completed.  All crews started to stabilize the complete vehicle by working the air bag system in place and shoring up the vehicle.  As the driver side door was completely taken off,  the patient was extricated and handed off to East Hills EMS after 10 minutes into the incident and was transported to the local trauma center.  Engine 3-3 handled traffic control by shutting down the roadway.  All crews waited on the scene until Richland PD handle their auto investigation.  All 3 units where placed back into service just over an hour with 3 Chief (Shaffer) handling the “Eisenhower Blvd” Command and having  a total staffing for the incident at twenty six members.

Around lunchtime the RTFD went out to a report of an auto on fire on the Route 56 Bypass in the eastbound lane.  The Duty Chief (Shaffer) arrived on the scene to confirm a working auto fire with Engine 1 and Engine 2 arriving on the scene at the same time.  Engine 2 was placed in service to go to work on the fire by pulling the front 1-3/4″ bumper line, while the crew from Engine assisted with opening up the hood to put a quick knock on the fire.  All RTFD units where placed in service  just after 30 minutes into the incident.  3 Chief had the command with staffing of 14 for the incident.

Today @ 1212 hours the RTFD went out to a report of multiple vehicles involved in an auto accident with multiple injuries @ Scalp Avenue at Luther Road.  Units went out to the report and arrived on the scene with seven vehicles involved by a chain reaction.  Crews secured all vehicles and handled tremendous amount of absorbent for fluids throughout the accident scene as well as handled a large amount of debris on the roadway and handled traffic.  During the operation the RTFD also assisted East Hills EMS with patient extrication as EMS transported four patients from the accident scene.  All 3 units went in service just over 40 minutes of the incident.  The Duty Chief (Ober) handled the Scalp Avenue Command  with staffing of 14 for the incident report.

September 19, 2009 at 1730 hours the RTFD went out for a building fire with entrapment located at 122 Carywn Drive in our first due response.  A full house response went out for the incident with Truck 3-1 arriving right after 3 Assistant.  The Assistant Chief (Ober) established the “Rosewood” command as the crew from the Truck placed an 1-3/4″ 200 ft line as well as a 150′ rack to finish the lay to the fire room.  Crews found a room off with heavy smoke conditions on the second and third floor of the facility.  As the crews from the Truck worked to put a knock on the fire as well as ventilation to the fire room, Engine 2 established the water supply operations by laying out to the Truck.  The Tower crew assisted the Truck crew with work on the fire and the Rescue Squad handled primary and secondary searches throughout the establishment while working with EMS as they handled evacuation of the residents.  The fire was under control within 10 minutes of the incident and all residents where accounted for and transported to a local church just under 30 minutes of the incident.  Windber Fire was requested for the RIT assignment and Johnstown Fire for their vent truck as well was County EMA for the large incident along with East Hills EMS and numerous EMS units assisted Richland Fire on this incident.  All units where finally placed in service just under four hours of the incident.  3 Assist (Ober) handled the “Rosewood” Command, while 3 Deputy (Meyers) had the forward command with staffing of 26 total for the incident.  Good Job to everyone who was involved.