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The following story was submitted a week ago by Lieutenant Flinn from Hampden Township, PA for the monthly “Do you know your first due” posting. This exact house is the below incident for a Vacant House Fire in Hampden Township, PA and we all know that just because it’s vacant doesn’t mean people aren’t inside. First arriving crews would have known immediately that there was a bedroom in what appeared to be the garage! GREAT JOB LT FLINN!!!
GET OUT IN THE "FIRST DUE" AND LOOK AROUND!!!
First arriving officer completed a 360 of the structure and found that he had fire out the Charlie side. First engine stretched the initial line to the front of the building. After entering they realized their access was blocked. Same crew took the line to the Charlie side of the structure. The initial line was a 200’ 1 ¾. The crew realized the line was too short and pulled a high rise pack to extend the line. Engine crews began to knock the bulk of the fire as other crews arrived performing ventilation, search etc. After searching the fire floor I made my way to Division 1 where the crews initially tried to gain access. This turned out to be used as a basement. I searched the floor and found two bedrooms both were unoccupied. While searching the second bedroom I realized I was in what should have been a garage. As you can see by the pictures the garage door is where the second bedroom was. Behind the garage door was a wall. It was studded and covered in drywall. There is an air conditioner in the window but was partially covered by a bush. Take time, this goes to show that even in wealthy communities people are over crowded and turn normally unoccupied unlivable spaces into just the opposite.
Story and Photos by LT Flinn
Photos of the house fire by Staff Correspondent Tim Knepp
