Back to back brush assists
 
By Firefighter Samuel Haines
April 12, 2014
 

At 14:39 hours the station was dispatched for Tac48 to assist station 73 on a large brush/woods fire in the 1800 block of Fairview Rd in East Nantmeal Twp. Tac48 and Eng485 made the response. On arrival Tac48 was assinged to come up the steep multi S curve driveway to the top and to deploy the forestry line to assist in containing the fast moving fire. Prior to the arrival of the Tac Eng731 made it 3/4 of the way up the driveway (laying 3 inch supply line) before it could not go any further with the hair pin turn and the steepness of the driveway. With some precise driving by the operator of Tac48, the Tac made it around the Engine to the top of the driveway. Tac48 deployed 400 feet of forestry line and started knocking down the fire on the north side starting at the bottom of the hill and working upward on the outer edge. A 3 inch line was then hand jacked from Eng731 to the top the driveway to supply Bru73 and Tac48. Eng485 arrived and supplied the 3 inch supply line to Eng731 which relayed the water the rest of the way up to the scene. Tanker 73 arrived and ran a water shuttle keeping Eng485 filled supplying the scene. With the steep terrain and the large area involved additional manpower was requested from station 69 along with Mic871 for one firefighter with heat exhaustion and Amb891 for rehab. At 1525 hours the fire was placed under control with all hands working with wetting down the area as well as cutting up multiple trees with chain saws. 48 units cleared the scene at 1709 hours.

At 1721 hours while Tac48 was refilling with water at station 73 the pagers went off again to assist station 49 with a brush fire in the 100 block of Little Washington Rd in West Brandywine Twp. Tac48 made the response from station 73 while Eng481 and Eng485 made the response from the 48 house. Eng485 arrived and found a mulch bed and shrubbery involved and pulled the front 1 3/4 bumper line. The fire was quickly knocked and the incident was placed under control at 1739 hours. With the wetting down and overhaul complete all units were available at 1749 hours.

 
Units: Tac48 Eng481 Eng485 Sqd48