Witmer Fire Protective Association

Monday morning as the snow was starting to fall E62-1 and SQ62-1 where dispatched to the 100 block of Witmer Road for a vehicle accident/unknown injuries. As the engine made the response county advised that they are now getting reports of someone being trapped inside the vehicle and that they are upgrading the assignment, this added E62-1, E41-1(Bird-In-Hand),RES48(Ronks) along with a medic unit. E62-1 arrived first and found one vehicle into a tree with all the doors jammed and the driver still inside, the Engine crew went to work and stabilized the vehicle and then removed the drivers side door and extricated the driver, the extrication was complete 8 minutes after E62-1 arrived.

The Witmer Fire Company is asking that everyone uses caution while driving on icy or snow covered roadways and avoid being on the roads whenever possible. Local meteorologists are still scrambling to determine how this storm will affect the county but there is a good chance we will receive our first significant snowfall of the year so we are asking everyone to please use caution while driving as well as making smart decisions while heating your house during the cold and windy times. We will gladly come out and assist anybody in time of need, however we would much prefer that there isn’t anybody that finds themselves in an emergency situation that requires our services. Also if there is a fire hydrant close to your property that is obstructed by snow it could have a negative impact in the unfortunate event that a fire would break out in the neighborhood so do yourselves and your community a favor and clear those hydrants!  Be Safe!

The 2015 Ox Roast dates are official and are on the following days, February 14th, April 25th, and October 17th. For more information visit the Ox Roast page on our website.

At 16:03 Tanker 62 was dispatched as part of the first alarm assignment to assist station 48(Ronks) with a reported dwelling fire, 48 units where on the scene by 16:07 and reported the fire knocked and held the assignment to their station only, seconds after Tanker 62 the pre-alert went out for a apartment building fire on Granger Rd in Station 61′s(Upper Leacock) first due, engine 62-2 was on the first alarm assignment and made the response with 6 firefighters on board. Chief 29(West Earl) was in the area and arrived on scene within minutes and reported heavy smoke on the second floor of a multi unit townhouse, E62-2 arrived simultaneously with Truck 204 with E61-1 , E62-2′s crew advanced a handline while 204 laddered the building and made entry into the apartment and 61-1 dropped a supply line from the hydrant, crews encountered heavy smoke due to a kitchen fire in a second floor apartment and made a quick knockdown of the fire and opened the walls to make sure it doesn’t extend into the attic. crews also encountered fridgid tempts turning water into ice on the outside within minutes adding to the challenge, great job to everyone involved!

The third building assignment and second working fire of the night came at 2304 when Engine 62-2 was once again dispatched to Station 61′s first due this time it was for a automatic fire alarm at Skyline Manufactured Housing while 61 was currently working a CO alarm elsewhere in their due, Deputy Chief 62 arrived first on the scene and reported a smoke condition on the Bravo side and Countywide Communications quickly upgraded the assignment to a building fire box alarm. In the first mintutes crews had a difficult time finding the fire due to it being a very large building and it being secured, once crews gained access to the building they determined that there was heavy fire coming from a mobile home that was being constructed inside the structure. Crews remained on the scene completing extensive overhaul for a lengthy period of time, once again great job to all involved!

Ever hear our house siren or see the fire trucks go by while we are responding to an emergency and wonder where we are going? Wonder no more, you can now come to our website and look on the left side, underneath the call totals for a list of the last five incidents that the Witmer Fire Company has been dispatched to, this feature is a RSS feed from Active911 which is an alerting system that we use to automatically send alerts to our firefighters via their cell phones when we get dispatched, so therefore it will be updated automatically and should be on the website within minutes of dispatch.

Around 17:30 units where dispatched to Smoketown Airport hanger E for a building fire, first arriving crews found a small fire in the furnace area of the building with minor extension into the ceiling, crews extinguished the fire and pulled some of the ceiling down to get to the extension.

A few hours later the box alarm was struck again for the same building this time the report was a smoke condition inside the building again and they are thinking there is still a hot spot in the wall, crews arrived and found a hot spot in the wall and pulled some more of the ceiling and walls open to get to the hot embers. Units on scene on both calls where E62-2, E62-1, E41-1, E63-3, TR63, RES48, T62-1, and T41-1.

Photo by 3rd Alarm Photography

Station 62 is in the middle of a slow stretch with only a few calls in the past weeks but this morning at 04:29 E62-2 was alerted to Aaron Lane in station 63′s (Lafayette) first due for a apartment building fire, the engine made the response with 6 members and was recalled shortly thereafter because first in crews determined it was burnt food in a stove and that the fire was out.

At a little before midnight Tanker 62 was dispatched as part of the building fire assignment in Station 54′s (Lampeter) first due, upon arrival initial crews found a small fire in a wood-shop and made an aggressive attack and extinguished the fire holding it to minor damage to the structure and contents. Tanker 62 was only on the scene for a few minutes until it was determined that the fire was under control and that large amounts of water will not be needed so they where released by command.

At 08:50 Engine 62-2, and Tanker 62 where dispatched to Eby Road in Station 61′s (Upper Leacock) first due for a Dwelling-fire reported in the chimney, the Duty Officer from 61 arrived and determined the fire to be out and held it to Station 61 and the ladder truck from 31(Bareville)

Around 0500 both E62-1 and SQ62-1 where alerted to assist station 63 (Lafayette) on a vehicle accident involving a tractor trailer. When crews arrived they found a very complex situation involving two tractor trailers, two personal vehicles, and two poles sheared with wires and traffic lights down and a large diesel fuel leak, the engine crew was first assigned to one of the passenger vehicles to assist EMS with stabilizing the vehicle and removing the patient, once all patients where in the hands of EMS the crew then turned its attention to containing the fuel leak until HazMat crews arrived on the scene, while the Squad assisted with traffic control. As soon as all the hazards where taken care of all crews where pulled back from the scene until the Police Department could do an investigation, once that was complete crews remained back until PPL stabilized the power lines and once that was done crews from E63-1 and E62-1 moved in to start the extensive cleanup efforts, the engine companies where on the scene for a little over seven hours while the traffic control units where on scene for close to ten hours. Traffic control was handled by the Firepolice Task Force Region 2.

At 09:07 crews where dispatched to a building fire on Spring Hollow Rd in West Lampeter Township, initial crews arriving found an old farm house that was converted into a woodworking shop with heavy fire showing and requested four additional tankers which put Tanker 62 on the assignment. The Tanker responded shortly thereafter and just as they arrived Command 54 requested five more tankers which brought Engine 62-2 into the scene for it’s 2500 gallons of water, Tanker 62 hauled 6000 gallons of water to the scene and Engine 62-2 dumped 5000 gallons.

This morning at 0848 hrs. E62-1 and SQ62-1 along with Medic 04-30, Medic 6-1, and Medic 82-1 where alerted for a Class 1 vehicle accident at Hartman Station Rd and Creek Hill Rd, crews arrived to find a three vehicle accident with minor injuries and provided scene safety and helped clear the vehicles and debris from the roadway.

http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/person-dead-injured-in-east-lampeter-crash/article_7902ea0c-7037-11e4-a5e3-6b1e07f4d75c.html

This evening E62-1 was dispatched to Rt. 23/Sherreem Rd for a vehicle accident with entrapment, the engine was recalled upon arrival and at that  time command asked for SQ62-1 for traffic control, the squad responded and assisted with traffic control for several hours. See attached article for more info.