| On Saturday, January 17th, 2009 Engine 44-5 was dispatched at 0518 along with the City of Coatesville Fire Department to the 200 block of West Diamond Street in the City's West End section for a reported house on fire.
Coatesville firefighters, having just returned from a previous fire in the City's East End, quickly responded and arrived on the scene to find a fire in the rear of the home. As personnel were working to extinguish the flames, firefighters from the Arcelor Mittal Steel Fire Department noticed a second fire at 0524 in the area of West Lincoln Highway and South Church Street, with flames consuming a rear porch.
A second dispatch called for additional units from the Westwood, Modena, Thorndale, Sadsburyville, and Parkesburg fire companies to assist at that scene.
Firefighters arrived to find occupants trapped inside the home, with flames consuming the rear and first floor. An intense effort to rescue the victims and put the fire out commenced.
Rescue 44 responded to the second incident and arrived in the rear alley where a porch was heavily involved in fire, as other units were arriving in the front of the house where occupants were unable to escape through the smoke and flames without assistance of firefighters.
Engine 44-5 quickly cleared the first incident on West Diamond Street and responded to the second call in the 200 block of West Lincoln Highway to assist.
Ambulance 44 responded to provide medical assistance as there was a report of victims unaccounted for. Fortunately, all occupants were eventually located safely.
Traffic 44 closed West Lincoln Highway at Strode Avenue and assisted with traffic and crowd control.
All units operated on both of these calls during extremely brutal temperatures, which dropped below zero taking into account wind chills.
Krapf's Bus Company provided school buses to keep firefighters warm throughout the morning, and the Little Chef restaurant provided much needed food and refreshments for the firefighters.
All Westwood units cleared these calls at 0900. As much of our equipment was frozen, standby personnel from the Cochranville Fire Company stayed at our station to provide assistance getting our equipment back into service and ready for another response.
Thank you to the Cochranville Fire Company and Union Fire Company of Oxford for standing by at our station throughout these early morning incidents.
Authorities are urging anyone with information regarding the recent fires to contact Coatesville police at 610-384-2300 or call 911. Additionally, authorities are urging residents in the West End of the city – where nearly all of the arsons this year have occurred – to remove any items from porches and leave front and rear porch lights on throughout the night. |
