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

All photos copyright (c) 2007 by Michael Ratcliffe