GENERAL-ALARM FIRE

Haines Building, Trenton Psychiatric Hospital, City of Trenton

On the morning of Tuesday, July 9, 2002, members of Lawrence Road Fire Co. were called mutual aid into the City of Trenton to the scene of a general alarm fire that burned away most of the roof of a large administrative building located on the grounds of Trenton Psychiatric Hospital – an historic mental health institution that was one of the first of its kind in the history of the United States.

The fire, which was accidentally started by a roofing contractor, resulted in a massive response to the fireground of an estimated 200-plus career and volunteer firefighters manning 23 engines (including four equipped with elevating booms), four ladders, one rescue, two canteens, and numerous support units, along with the relocation of even more apparatus and manpower for cover-up purposes.

Founded in 1848 and presently operated by the State of New Jersey’s Department of Human Services, the hospital lies on about 100 acres within both Trenton and neighboring Ewing Township.
For years, the hospital maintained its own fire brigade, complete with its own apparatus and firehouse on the hospital grounds. Budget cutbacks and an overall reduction in the number of patients and staff at the hospital eventually led to the disbanding of the fire brigade.

A state-employed fire official with the title “assistant fire chief” is all that remains now at the hospital, with fire protection the primary responsibility of the Trenton Fire Department.
The fire on that hot, humid July morning started when the contractor accidentally ignited roof shingles while using a propane torch to solder some copper gutters on the Haines Building, a sprawling three- and four-story structure in the rough shape of a backwards, inverted “L.”
The time was sometime before 8 a.m.

Built in the 19th century as one of the hospital’s original structures, the Haines Building was constructed primarily of concrete and stone, with a timber-framed roof. The building housed offices, an art studio and a nondenominational chapel. Because of the early hour, very few of the hospital’s 400-plus patients and approximately 1,000 staff were inside when the fire broke out.

It was just after 7:54 a.m. when operators in Trenton’s police and fire communications center received a telephone call reporting a fire alarm system activation at the hospital. That call was immediately updated with a report of smoke coming from the Haines Building.

At 7:56 a.m., the communications center transmitted a full first alarm, which sent Engine 8, Engine 1, Engine 9, Ladder 1, Rescue 1, and Battalion Chief Chester Haymond (Battalion 3).
Prior to the June 2002 reorganization of the Trenton Fire Department, a full first-alarm box assignment consisted of three engine companies, two ladder companies, Rescue 1, and one of the two on-duty battalion chiefs. After the reorganization, the assignment was decreased by one ladder company.

At 7:59 a.m., Arlie Kellar Jr. (TPH 1, the hospital’s fire official) radioed over Trenton’s main fireground channel that smoke was issuing from the roof of the Haines Building.

The first-due company, Engine 8, arrived on scene at 8:01 a.m. and its captain, John Bradbury, confirmed Kellar’s report, advising there was heavy smoke showing from the roof of a large three-story structure. Bradbury recommended to Haymond that a second alarm be struck.

At 8:03 a.m., the second alarm was transmitted. Engine 10, Ladder 4 and Battalion Chief Mark Rosen (Battalion 4) responded. Also rolling on the second alarm were Special Services 1 (cascade), Deputy Chief Richard Snyder (Deputy 2), and several other command officers to help coordinate fireground safety and water supply.

At 8:07 a.m., after he had a few minutes to fully size up the situation, Bradbury radioed that the roof of the Haines Building was heavily-involved with a fire that was spreading rapidly.

A third alarm – which sent Engine 3 and Engine 6 to the scene – was ordered by Snyder at 8:15 a.m. Snyder also special-called all three volunteer fire companies from Ewing Township.

Trenton’s radio room relayed the mutual aid request to Mercer County Central Communications Center, which at 8:18 a.m. dispatched volunteers from the Prospect Heights, Pennington Road and West Trenton fire companies. They responded with Squirt 31, Telesquirt 32, Engine 32-1 and Ladder Tower 33.

At 8:29 a.m., Snyder ordered the communications center to transmit a general alarm, with a full recall of off-duty city firefighters. In his report to the radio room, Snyder advised that the roof of the Haines Building was almost fully-involved and that the fire was extremely doubtful.
Between 8:30 a.m. and about 9:20 a.m., numerous “special-call” requests were made for mutual aid from volunteer fire companies from other Mercer County towns to assist with water supply operations at the fireground.

Ultimately, 10 engines with large diameter hose responded to the scene. They included: Engine 21-1 (Slackwood Fire Co.) and Engine 22 (Lawrence Road Fire Co.) from Lawrence Township; Engine 12-1 (Mercerville Fire Co.), Engine 13-2 (Rusling Hose Co.), Engine 14-1 (Hamilton Fire Co.), Engine 14-2 (Enterprise Fire Co.), Engine 15 (DeCou Hose Co.), and Engine 18-1 (Colonial Fire Co.), all from Hamilton Township; Engine 42 (East Windsor Fire Co. #1) from East Windsor Township; and Engine 52 (Hopewell Fire Co.) from Hopewell Borough.

(Engine 22 and Engine 21-1 were both dispatched at 8:30 a.m. Engine 22 signed on radio at 8:32 a.m. with Ff. Michael Ratcliffe in command, Ff. Charles Commini driving, and a crew of Ff. Larry Forker and Ff. Joseph Dlabik Jr. Engine 22 arrived at the staging area on Sullivan Way at 8:42 a.m.)

Engine 7 also was eventually called to the fireground, leaving Ladder 2 as the only front-line Trenton apparatus not operating at the hospital. (Ladder 2, at Snyder’s direction, was kept in service to help cover the city.)

As recalled Trenton firefighters reported for duty (including a group of about two dozen men who had gathered at fire headquarters with plans to attend the funeral of a firefighter killed in the line of duty in Gloucester City on July 4th), they manned several reserve pieces of apparatus, as well as the apparatus formerly used by Engines 2 and 5 and Ladder 3 – the three companies permanently disbanded by the city in the June reorganization.

Eventually responding to the fireground with recalled personnel were Reserve Engine 2, Reserve Engine 3, Reserve Engine 9, and Disbanded Ladder 3.

Other vehicles, including a New Jersey Transit bus commandeered by Battalion Chief Jeffrey Gore (Battalion 2), were utilized to ferry manpower from city firehouses to the scene.

Disbanded Engine 2 and Disbanded Engine 5 were also manned by recalled members and relocated to cover Trenton, along with Ladder 2 and various mutual aid apparatus called into the city from other volunteer fire companies from both Mercer County and Burlington County.

Because of the large number of Mercer County’s volunteer fire companies involved at the fireground and committed to covering the capital city, a task force of apparatus and manpower from Burlington County was relocated to Mercer County’s fire academy in Lawrence to stand by in a central location for possible deployment if needed anywhere in the county.

Firefighting at the Haines Building was a predominately defensive operation.

Positioned at various points around the fire building were Ladder 1, Ladder 4, Disbanded Ladder 3, Engine 1 (a squirt), Engine 3 (a squirt), Squirt 31, Telesquirt 32, and Ladder Tower 33. Aerial master streams from several of those units were placed in service.

Several hoselines were also hauled up ground ladders and put to work from uninvolved sections of the Haines Building’s roof and from the roofs of adjacent structures.

Supplying water for the various master streams and hoselines were a number of limited volume yard hydrants and at least four long 5-inch hose relays, utilizing many of the mutual aid engines, from large volume hydrants located along both Sullivan Way and Stuyvesant Avenue.

Soon after arriving at the staging area, Engine 22 was given orders and connected to a hydrant on Sullivan Way near the main entrance to the hospital grounds. After hooking up to the hydrant, Engine 22 started pumping water through a 5-inch hoseline (laid by Slackwood firefighters) to Engine 21-1, which in turn fed Engine 10.

After this supply line was fully established, Ratcliffe, Forker and Dlabik walked up to the fire building, while Commini remained with Engine 22 at the pump panel. After meeting up with Trenton Battalion Chief (and Lawrence Road Deputy Chief) Richard Farletta, Engine 22’s crew helped Trenton firefighters haul hose into the fire building. Three hundred feet of 4-inch hose was hand-stretched from Engine 10 into a wing of the Haines Building and connected to 200 feet of 3-inch hose that was then hauled up a stairwell to the fourth floor. The 3-inch line was gated down into two 1.75-inch hoselines that were then used to keep the fire from extending into an unburned area of the roof. The operation was particularly tiring and difficult, but it ultimately proved successful in holding the fire.
Crews from Trenton Emergency Medical Service and other EMS agencies stood by to rehab overheated and weary firefighters, while canteen units from Signal 22 and the North Penn Goodwill Service of Souderton, Pa., handed out all variety of refreshments, including cold bottled water, orange juice, doughnuts and ice cream.

At least six Trenton firefighters were transported to city hospitals to be checked out or treated for different injuries, including heat exhaustion, muscle strain and chest pain. Fortunately, all firefighters were quickly released from the hospitals and fully recovered.

At 10:19 a.m., Deputy Chief Stephen Benner (Deputy 1), who had assumed command, declared the fire under control. But firefighters continued to flow water on the roof and overhaul the ruins for several more hours.

Mutual aid units were first to be released, starting shortly before noon. The engines from Lawrence Road and Slackwood were the last mutual aid units to remain on scene. They left at 1:30 p.m. (Engine 22 was back in quarters at Station 22 by 1:41 p.m.) Engine 8, the last Trenton company to take up, cleared the scene at 2:35 p.m.