| At 0138 hours on February 27, Station 51 was dispatched with Station 39 for a house fire in the 900 block of Brandywine Avenue in East Bradford Township. Multiple calls to Chester County 911 were reporting a working house fire. Chief 39 requested the Working Fire Dispatch which added Station 47 for the RIT assignment. Asst. 51 was the first fire officer to arrive on location and reported a 2 story single family dwelling with fire conditions throughout the first floor, establishing Operations.
Engine 51-2, staffed with 4 volunteers, arrived as the first due engine. 51-2 dropped a supply line at Route 322 and Skelp Level Road, making the 1000' uphill lay past the fire building. Chief 39 arrived on scene and established the "Brandywine Avenue Command". The crew from 51-2 initiated an aggressive interior attack from the charlie side. Once inside the crew encountered rapidly deteriorating conditions and eventually had to back out. Operations called for a defensive attack and placed hand lines on the bravo and delta sides to protect exposures. Shortly after a collapse occurred on the bravo side.
Command requested additional tankers due to lack of available water in the area. Engine 51-1 arrived and established a fill site at Route 322 and Frank Road. Additional arriving units assisted with exposure protection and fire attack. A lack of close hydrants greatly hampered firefighting efforts. Tanker 52 and Air 52 also responded from the WCFD. Crews were eventually able to bring the fire under control at 0247.
County and State Fire Marshal's responded to investigate the fire. 51 units cleared the scene just before 0600 after extensive overhaul and assisting with the investigation.
The officers and members of First West Chester would like to extend a special thank you to Chief 25 and Engine 25-2 for standing by at Station 51 during the fire. No additional calls for service were answered.
All photos are courtesy of Tom Kelly IV. |
