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

All photos copyright (c) 2007 by Christopher Laird & Richard Laird III