 LAWRENCE ROAD FIRE CO.
NOTEWORTHY INCIDENTS |
| BRUSH FIRE |
| Date & Time: Saturday, May 5, 2007 – 12:46 p.m. |
| Location: Rider University, 2083 Lawrence Road, Lawrence Township, N.J. |
| Details: Lawrence Road Fire Co. was dispatched for a reported brush fire in the area of Rider's Student Recreation Center. Telesquirt 22 arrived to find that a cigarette dropped in the mulch had ignited some shrubbery in front of the building. Rider security guards had already knocked down the fire, with no damage to the building. Telesquirt 22’s crew used the booster line to wet down the entire area to prevent a rekindle. Telesquirt 22 was back in quarters by 1:04 p.m. |
| Responding LRFC Personnel |
| Telesquirt 22 |
| Officer: Capt. Michael Byrd | Driver: Ff. Matthew Farletta | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Crew: Ff. Joseph Dlabik Jr. | Crew: Ff. Ryan Dlabik | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Crew: Ff. Richard Laird III | Crew: Ff. Michael Ratcliffe |
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| Photo copyright (c) 2007 by Michael Ratcliffe |
| For additional photos from this incident, click here |
| OVERTURNED VEHICLE |
| Date & Time: Saturday, May 5, 2007 – 6:34 p.m. |
| Location: Darrah Lane, Lawrence Township, N.J. |
| Details: Lawrence Road Fire Co. was dispatched for an overturned vehicle. Police were already on the scene and confirmed there was no entrapment. When Chief Richard Farletta and Rescue 22’s crew arrived, they found that a 1999 Dodge Dakota pickup truck had veered off the road, struck a utility pole and flipped over onto its driver’s side. The driver, who was not injured, had already crawled from the wreckage by the time police arrived. PSE&G was requested to the scene for the utility pole, which had been split in half when it was hit by the pickup truck. Rescue 22 stood by until the pickup truck had been towed away and PSE&G had arrived to secure the damaged pole. Rescue 22 was back in quarters by 7:04 p.m. |
| Responding LRFC Personnel |
| Rescue 22 |
| Officer: Capt. Ed Budzinski | Driver: Ff. Joseph Dlabik Sr. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Crew: Ff. Keith Kent | Crew: Ff. Joseph Dlabik Jr. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Crew: Ff. Charles Commini Sr. | Crew: Ff. Charles Commini Jr. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Crew: Ff. Steve Adzima |
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| Photo copyright (c) 2007 by Lawrence Road Fire Co. |
| For additional photos from this incident, click here |
| BRUSH FIRE |
| Date & Time: Sunday, May 6, 2007 – 1:27 p.m. |
| Location: Eggerts Crossing Village, 175 Johnson Avenue, Lawrence Township, N.J. |
| Details: Lawrence Road Fire Co. was dispatched for a brush fire burning in the woods behind the apartment complex. Upon arrival, firefighters found two separate brush fires burning. One measured about 30 feet by 20 feet, and the other was about 2 feet by 2 feet. Crews from Telesquirt 22 and Engine 22 used a booster line, shovels and other hand tools to extinguish the fires. Township police were notified of the suspicious origin of the fires. All Lawrence Road units were back in quarters by 2:10 p.m. |
| Responding LRFC Personnel |
| Telesquirt 22 |
| Officer: Capt. Michael Byrd | Driver: Ff. Shaun Dlabik | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Crew: Ff. Ryan Dlabik | Crew: Ff. Chris Dlabik | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Crew: Ff. Adam Rivera | Crew: Ff. Richard Laird III |
| Engine 22 |
| Officer: Capt. Edward Kitchen | Driver: Ff. Michael Ratcliffe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Crew: Crew: Ff. Evan Kutzin |
| Car 22 |
| Chief Richard Farletta | Ff. Matthew Farletta |
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| Photo copyright (c) 2007 by Michael Ratcliffe |
| For additional photos from this incident, click here |
| BOAT DRILL |
| Date & Time: Monday, May 21, 2007 |
| Location: Mercer County Lake, Mercer County Park, West Windsor Township, N.J. |
| Details: Lawrence Road Fire Co. volunteers conducted a training exercise at the lake using Marine 22. |
| Responding LRFC Personnel |
| Apparatus |
| Deputy Chief John Fleming | Safety Officer James Yates | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capt. Edward Kitchen | Ff. Steven Amiott | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ff. Steven Hodgdon | Ff. Michael Guala | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ff. Richard Laird III | Ff. Sean Ryan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ff. Adam Rivera | Ff. Keith Kent | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ff. Theresa Androvett | Ff. Jaime Yates | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ff. Brian Laue |
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| Photo copyright (c) 2007 by Lawrence Road Fire Co. |
| For additional photos from this incident, click here |
| THREE-ALARM STRUCTURE FIRE |
| Date & Time: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 – 12:07 p.m. |
| Location: 1121 Bordentown Road, Falls Township, Bucks County, Pa. |
| Details: At 11:30 a.m. Bucks County Fire Radio dispatched Falls Township Fire Co. (Station 30) and several mutual aid companies on Box 30-60 for a building fire. First-due crews arrived to find heavy smoke showing from a large, two-story wood frame structure that housed the regional administration officers for Waste Management. Several dozen employees had already evacuated from the building. A second alarm was immediately sounded. Snorkel 21 from Lawrence Township’s Slackwood Fire Co. was dispatched to the scene at 11:41 a.m. as part of the second alarm. Firefighters attempted an interior attack, but were forced to retreat as conditions quickly deteriorated and the fire took hold of the entire building. Flames were soon burning through the roof. Numerous master streams and 2.5-inch lines were put to work. At 12:07 p.m. Lawrence Road’s Rescue 22 was dispatched mutual aid to Bucks County to relocate to cover Fairless Hills Fire Co. (Bucks County Station 31) in Falls Township. Rescue 22 arrived at Fairless Hills’ firehouse at 12:26 a.m. and remained there until 12:37 p.m. when Rescue 22 was dispatched to the fireground as part of the third alarm. Rescue 22 initially staged with other apparatus at the nearby Tullytown Borough firehouse (Bucks County Station 33) and then moved up to the scene. Rescue 22’s crew helped hand-stretch a large diameter supply line and assisted elsewhere. The fire was declared under control at 1:45 p.m. The building was a total loss, but there were no serious injuries to anyone. Mercer County apparatus that operated on the scene included Snorkel 21, Rescue 22, Ladder 14 (Hamilton Fire Co.), Engine 33 (West Trenton Fire Co.), Tanker 51 (Pennington Borough Fire Co.), and Engine 14-2 (Enterprise Fire Co.). Bucks County apparatus that operated on scene included 15 engines, five ladders, four rescues, and six tankers from the Falls, Fairless Hills, Levittown #1, Levittown #2, Morrisville, Tullytown, William Penn, Penndel, Parkland, Edgely, Third District, Bristol Consolidated, Goodwill Hose, American Hose Hook & Ladder, Newportville, Newport, Upper Makefield, New Hope-Eagle, Southampton, Midway, Lingohocken, and Warwick fire companies. Rescue 22 was back in quarters in Lawrence Township by 2:53 p.m. |
| Responding LRFC Personnel |
| Rescue 22 |
| Officer: Capt. Michael Byrd | Driver: Paid Driver Robert Santello | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Crew: Capt. Edward Kitchen | Crew: Ff. Richard Laird III | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Crew: Ff. Steven Hodgdon | Crew: Ff. Keith Kent |
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| Photo copyright (c) 2007 by Christopher Laird |
| For additional photos from this incident, click here |
| HAZARDOUS MATERIALS INCIDENT |
| Date & Time: Thursday, May 24, 2007 – 4:26 p.m. |
| Location: Lawrence Police Headquarters, 2211 Lawrence Road, Lawrence Township, N.J. |
| Details: Lawrence Road Fire Co. was dispatched after an officer returned to the police station with a suspicious package he had been given by a concerned 911 caller. The package was coated in an unknown white powdery substance. Rescue 22 responded, along with the hazardous materials team from the Trenton Fire Department. Rescue 22’s crew stood by while members of the HazMat team analyzed the substance. Ultimately, it was determined the substance was just sugar and was completely harmless. All units were recalled and Rescue 22 was back in quarters by 5:10 p.m. |
| Responding LRFC Personnel |
| Rescue 22 |
| Officer: Capt. Michael Byrd | Driver: Deputy Chief John Fleming |
| Crew: Ff. Ryan Dlabik | Crew: Ff. Steven Hodgdon |
| Crew: Ff. Charles Commini Jr. | Crew: Ff. Richard Laird III |
| Car 22 |
| Chief Richard Farletta |
| SIX-ALARM STRUCTURE FIRE |
| Date & Time: Friday, May 25, 2007 - 3:17 p.m. |
| Location: 660 Plainsboro Road, Plainsboro Township, Middlesex County, N.J. |
| Details: Lawrence Road's Engine 22 was dispatched at 3:17 p.m. to respond into Plainsboro Township to cover Middlesex County Station 49 during a major structure fire. Engine 22 stood by at Station 49 along with several other mutual aid units. At 4:26 p.m. Engine 22 was special-called to the fire scene at the Princeton Meadows Shopping Center. Engine 22’s crew was ordered to the rear of the building to operate a hoseline inside one of the fire damaged stores and to take part in overhaul operations. Engine 22 was back in quarters at Station 22 by 7:13 p.m. Ultimately, the equivalent of six alarms worth of apparatus and manpower responded to the scene because of the heavy fire conditions encountered, difficulty accessing the common attic space via which the flames spread from store to store, and also the afternoon’s 90-degree heat which quickly sapped the strength of firefighters. As many as 22 engines, seven ladders, five heavy rescues, several ambulances, a canteen unit and numerous other command and support vehicles from over 30 fire and EMS organizations from across Middlesex County and Mercer County operated on the fireground. It was 2:20 p.m. when a 911 call was made by an employee of the Hot Breads bakery reporting a fire above their ceiling. Plainsboro police officers and first-due firefighters from Plainsboro Fire Co. arrived just minutes later to find heavy smoke issuing from the roof above the bakery, which was located near the center of the L-shaped strip mall. The balance of the first alarm was immediately dispatched, followed moments later by a full second alarm. Confronted with heavy fire racing through the building’s common cockloft, firefighters stretched attack lines into the bakery and adjacent stores and started to pull the ceilings. But the flames, heaving gained considerable headway before the first alarm ever sounded, proved difficult to reach. All firefighters were immediately ordered to evacuate the building after signs of possible roof failure were noticed. Additional alarms and numerous special calls were made as defensive exterior operations commenced. Efforts were made to trench cut the roof to halt the fire’s spread. About 90 minutes after the initial alarm, a large section of the roof over the bakery and adjacent stores collapsed and sent a tremendous ball of fire shooting skyward. At the height of the blaze, at least five elevated master streams and numerous attack lines were flowing water. While the bulk of the fire was knocked down by 5 p.m., the situation was not officially declared under control until 6:15 p.m. By that time, the blaze had completely destroyed a bakery, a pizzeria, a Chinese restaurant and a dental office, and heavily damaged several other stores. Other Mercer County apparatus on scene were: Lawrenceville's Telesquirt 23, Pennington Road's Rescue 32, Nottingham's Ladder Tower 17, West Windsor's Rescue 43, Princeton Junction's Engine 44, East Windsor #1's Ladder 42, Hightstown's Ladder 41, Washington's Engine 40, Princeton Hook & Ladder's Ladder Tower 62, Mercer Engine #3's Squirt 63, and Princeton First Aid's Rescue 168, along with the Trenton Fire Department's fuel car and the Signal 22 canteen. Middlesex County companies on scene came from Plainsboro, Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, Cranbury, South Brunswick, North Brunswick, East Brunswick, New Brunswick, Monroe, Jamesburg, Helmetta, South River, Old Bridge, Spotswood, and Sayreville. |
| Responding LRFC Personnel |
| Rescue 22 |
| Officer: Capt. Michael Byrd | Driver: Ff. Joseph Dlabik Sr. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Crew: Ff. Joseph Dlabik Jr. | Crew: Ff. Adam Rivera | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Crew: Ff. Steven Hodgdon | Crew: Ff. Keith Kent |
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| Photo copyright (c) 2007 by Michael Ratcliffe |
| For additional photos from this incident, click here |
| MEMORIAL PARADE |
| Date & Time: Saturday, May 26, 2007 |
| Location: Princeton Pike, Lawrence Township, N.J. |
| Details: Along with members of the Slackwood and Lawrenceville fire companies, volunteers from Lawrence Road Fire Co. took part in Lawrence Township's annual Memorial Day parade, marching along Princeton Pike to Darrah Lane and then to Veteran's Park. Lawrence Road's Telesquirt 22, Rescue 22, Utility 22 and Car 22 appeared in the parade. |
| Responding LRFC Personnel |
| Chief Richard Farletta | President James Yates | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Past Chief Linton Reed | Fire Police Capt. Robert Hazen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capt. Michael Byrd | Ff. Matthew Farletta | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ff. Ryan Dlabik | Ff. Shaun Dlabik | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ff. Joseph Dlabik Sr. | Ff. Joseph Dlabik Jr. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ff. Chris Dlabik | Ff. Adam Rivera | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ff. Richard Laird III | Ff. Steven Hodgdon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ff. Jamie Yates |
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| Photo copyright (c) 2007 by Michael Ratcliffe |
| For additional photos from this incident, click here |
| ACCIDENT WITH ENTRAPMENT |
| Date & Time: Saturday, May 26, 2007 - 6 p.m. |
| Location: Volk Tire, 1010 Spruce Street, Lawrence Township, N.J. |
| Details: Slackwood’s Rescue 21, Lawrence Road’s Rescue 22, and Lawrenceville’s Rescue 23 responded for a reported accident involving a car versus building with confirmed entrapment. Firefighters arrived to find that an eastbound car driven by a 55-year-old woman had veered off Spruce Street at a high rate of speed, crashed through the plate glass window at the front of the Volk Tire building, and come to rest partially embedded in an interior wall. Rescue 22’s crew helped stabilize the vehicle and stood by with a charged hoseline during extrication efforts. The woman, who amazingly suffered only minor injuries, was extricated by 6:24 p.m. and was then transported by EMS to Fuld Hospital in Trenton for treatment. A township building inspector was called out to assess the damage sustained to the structure. Firefighters stood by until the vehicle was removed from the building by a tow truck. Rescue 22 was back in quarters by 7:20 p.m. |
| Responding LRFC Personnel |
| Rescue 22 |
| Officer: Assistant Chief John Britton | Driver: Ff. Shaun Dlabik | |||||||||||||
| Crew: Ff. Richard Laird III | Crew: FF. Steven Hodgdon | |||||||||||||
| Crew: Ff. Joseph Dlabik Jr. | Crew: Ff. Michael Trimble |
| OVERTURNED TRACTOR-TRAILER |
| Date & Time: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - 10:16 a.m. |
| Location: Lawrence Station Road, Lawrence Township, N.J. |
| Details: A flatbed tractor-trailer hauling a load of mulch flipped onto its side after its right wheels drifted off the road into a drainage ditch. Initial reports of entrapment proved unfounded, as the driver was not injured and was already out of the rig when the first emergency crews arrived. Responding apparatus included Slackwood's Rescue 21, Lawrence Road's Rescue 22, and Lawrenceville's Rescue 23. Firefighters contained 30 to 40 gallons of diesel fuel that spilled from the tractor's ruptured saddle tanks. Rescue 22's Junkyard Dog struts were used to stabilize the trailer until it could be uprighted by a heavy-duty wrecker. Rescue 22 was back in quarters by 12:06 p.m. The eastbound lane of Lawrence Station Road remained closed because of the accident cleanup until 6:15 p.m. The driver was reportedly issued a careless driving ticket by police. |
| Responding LRFC Personnel |
| Rescue 22 |
| Officer: Capt. Michael Byrd | Driver: Paid Driver Robert Santello | |||
| Crew: Ff. Richard Laird III | Crew: Ff. Steven Hodgdon |
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| Photo copyright (c) 2007 by Richard Laird III |
| For additional photos from this incident, click here |
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