The annual Quarryville Fire Company Ham Supper will be held on Saturday March 13, 2010 at the Hoffman Community Building on the Solanco Fairgrounds off of Park Avenue in Quarryville.  Doors open at 4:00 pm unitl 7:00 pm (or until the food runs out).  The all-you-can-eat meal is served buffet style, or you can pick up a take-out to take home from our drive-through take-out window.   

This is a great time to get out of the house and support your local Volunteer Fire Company.  We hope to see you there !!!

On Saturday, Chief Engineer Wayne Brion and several other members arrived at the firehouse at 7:00 am to start our annual  oil change and maintenance on our apparatus.  Every year, we change oil, filters and air filters on each rig, change oil and filters on all of our generators and do other maintenance tasks, such as checking brakes, tires, king pins etc.  This is in addition to weekly maintenance performed on each rig throughout the year. 

As the day wore on, more and more members came to the station and helped out doing other tasks, like cleaning and lubricating all of the pump connections, adapters and suction hoses.  By 4:00 pm, all 7 pieces of apparatus were done.  This was a new station record.

Thanks to all of the members that helped out to make this possible.  By doing this work in house, the Company saved several thousand dollars, and several days of unit out-of-service time.  Thanks also to Donnie Herr of Edgar M. Herr Trucking in Quarryville for the donation of the filters for the Mack's.

At 2:23 pm, Rawlinsville FC (5-8), Pequea FC (5-6), West Willow FC (5-11), Willow Street FC (5-12) and Rescue 5-7 were dispatched to a house fire at 567 Marticville Road in Martic Township.  On response of the first due units, LCWC advised that the house was reported to be fully involved in fire.  Units responding could see a large column of smoke in the area, and requested a second alarm, bringing additional units, including Tanker 5-7.

Engine 5-8-1 arrived on the scene and laid 1400' of 5" supply line down the narrow driveway, arriving at the fully involved triple brick constructed 100+ year old house.  Crews from 5-8, 5-11 and 5-12 put lines in service to protect and cool two 100 gallon propane tanks, one of which was already venting.

Water supply was established at the end of the driveway using Tanker 5-7 as a nurse tanker, and Engine 5-3-2 pumping from a porta-tank.

Rescue 5-7's crew of 8 carried all of the RIT equipment into the scene, and established RIT and safety, making sure that no one was in the way of the possible collapse zone.

The house was collapsing on arrival, with most of the interior falling into the basement.  The fire was darkened down as much as possible.  Units remained on the scene until after midnight searching for a subject that was possibly inside at the time of the fire.  Unfortunately, one person perished in the blaze.

Tanker 5-7 remained on the scene until 8:45 pm, Rescue 5-7 cleared at 5:00 pm.

At 5:10 pm, Rescue 5-7, Engine 5-7-2 and Harford Engine 613 (Whiteford, on stand by at 5-8) were dispatched to a vehicle accident with entrapment at Truce Road and Schoolhouse Road in Providence Township.  EMS arrived with no fire services required.

Later in the evening, Rescue 5-7 responed to a vehicle accident stand by at 700 Scotland Road.  Crews found an overturned vehicle with no injuries.

Later,  Engine 5-4-1 (Lampeter FC) was enroute to Station 5-8 for stand by and was alerted for a vehicle accident stand by at 1049 Lancaster Pike in East Drumore Township.  Rescue 5-7 was less than a mile away returning from the previous call and also responded.  Hazards were controlled and fire police directed traffic.  The Rescue and crew were in quarter at 10:45 pm.

At 2:19 in the afternoon, QFD Volunteers were alerted to 218 Stony Hill Road in Eden Township for a chimney fire.  Engine 5-7-4 arrived with a small fire in the chimney.  This residence was back a long driveway, that fortunately was snow free.  The chimney of the house was on the backside of the roof, and about 5' above the decking, requiring Truck 5-7 to set-up on side "A".  Luckily, the driveway was just wide enough to allow access for the Truck.

Crews removed the ifre from the stove, drug the chimney and cleared the scene by 3:30 pm.

OnTuesday morning, Assistant Chief Mike Ross and wife Jill welcomed their second child, a girl, into their family.  Lyla Grace Ross was born at 8:47 am at Womens and Babies Hospital in Lancaster.  Lyla weighed 8 pounds, 5 ounces and was 20 1/2" long at birth.  Mike says all is well with everyone, including big brother Landon. 

At 9:38 am, Rescue 5-7 transferred to Willow Street Fire Company (5-12) along with Conestoga Engine 5-3-2.  Willow Street members were working at the K-Mart Store at 2600 Willow Street Pike with a roof cave in.  5-12 and Lampeter (5-4) were dispatched for an automatic fire alarm.  On arrival, they found the roof bowed down in the Garden Center, with an active sprinkler leak.  This was caused by snow on the roof.

At 10:53 am, Command 5-12 requested the stand by companies to respond to the scene to assist in checking all of the other stores in the complex.  QFD members split into two teams and checked multiple stores by removing ceiling tiles and checking the roof from inside.  No other problems were found.  Members then assisted in trying to restore the sprinkler system.  Rescue 5-7 was back in quarters at 1 pm.

On February 2nd, local celebrity groundhog Octorara Orphie predicted spring was right around the corner.  Only 8 days later, the Solanco area was pounded by it's second major snowstorm of February.  This time, close to 20 inches of snow fell and winds in excess of 30 mph blew, creating blizzard conditions and making many, many Southern End roadways impassable and closed with extreme drifts. 

As the storm progressed, all of the local fire companies were out on the street handling emergency calls.  Lancaster County Communications was sending the fire company to all EMS responses due to the difficult road conditions.  This increased the call load for all of the volunteer fire companies in the county. 

Quarryville was no different, handling 16 calls during the storm (so far), including 7 medical assists.  These assists ranged from using our four-wheel drive vehicles to get to residents having medical emergencies, to carrying victims from their houses to awaiting amubulances.  We also helped clear snow from driveways and entrances to help EMS access patients.

The other calls included a working building fire assist to the Refton Community Fire Company (5-9) in which Tanker 5-7 was the nurse tanker in the water supply, sending over 73,000 gallons of water to the scene.  We also handled several utility/wires calls, accidents and fire police calls. 

As of this post (2/11/10) there are still many roadways closed in the district, so we will undoubtedly spend more time out assisting where needed.  As posted before, please be sure to clear your house number sign, and if you have a fire hydrant close by, clear it out also.

**** Update ****

With the week complete, the Fire Chief has figured up the totals for the storm.  The Company responded to 24 incidents, logging 25 hours in service.  There were 293 total members responding, providing 375 man-hours of volunteer service.  This does not include the time spent readying the apparatus, clearing the apparatus bays and station of snow, crew stand-bys or hydrant shoveling.  Thanks to all of the members that helped out in some way.

With well over 20 inches of snow still on the ground, and the forecasters calling for another 12+ inches on Tuesday and Wednesday, several members began preparing for the additional snow.  Rigs have been fueled up, chains readied, and snow shovels added to the apparatus. 

On Monday, several members went out and shoveled out hydrants in the borough.  Many of the hydrants were nearly invisible or completely buried under mounds of pushed up snow.  It is important that these hydrants are uncovered so we can spot them when responding in to a fire.  Thanks to all the citizens that had already dug their local hydrant out.  Please remember, once the next batch of snow is done, and you are out cleaning walks, please clear out you house number and your local fire hydrant.

The second major winter storm of the season moved into the area on Friday, and continued well into Saturday.  The storm dropped just under 30 inches of snow in the Quarryville area, which was one of the top totals in the state for this storm.  The wind also caused blowing and drifting snow, keeping the road crews busy trying to maintain passable roadways.

As the snow began falling heavily Friday evening, Engine 5-7-4 and Engine 5-7-2 were chained up.  This affords us the ability of being able to move on the snow covered roadways with more safety, and also allows us to get into un-plowed driveways in the rural areas of the district.

On Saturday morning, with well over 16 inches of snow on the ground, the Company was called to assist the EMS with four-wheel drive units on two occasions, one for a difficulty breathing call on Dusk St. and a maternity on Drywell Rd., both in Eden Township.  Later in the morning, units were called to assist with snow removal from the roofs of two residences.  The snow accumulated on the roofs of the mobile homes, blocking the chimney, making a safety hazard for the residents.  In the afternoon, the company responded to a report of a chimney fire that was unfounded and in another jurisdiction.

A few reminders:

• Be sure your address sign / mailbox is cleared of snow so the fire company, police or EMS can find your house in the event of an emergency.
• If you live in town, please shovel out your nearest fire hydrant.
• Make sure your chimney is clear of snow and not buried under it.  A blocked chimney or vent can lead to carbon monoxide issues.

Thanks to all the members who got the equipment ready and handled the calls during this major storn.

On Thursday evening, QFD Volunteers were dispatched to 16 Salem Road in Colerain Township for a public service.  Being in a rural area, this can be anything from a tree down to a cat in a tree.  This time, like several other times in the past year or two, it was for a cow in a manure pit.  The 500+ pound heifer fell into the enclosed pit after a hatch was left open where the farmer was pumping the pit out.  It was now up to us to formulate a plan to get this cow out of the poo.

Chief 5-7-2 (Mike Ross) called for the Bart Twp. FC (5-1) for their sling and straps that they use for just this type of rescue.  They have been doing this for years, so we called on the pros.  Chief 2 also called for the Colerain Township Road Crew loader to assist in pulling off this "technicow" rescue.

Once units arrived on the scene, lighting was established, and access was made to the bottom of the pit.  Some "volunteers" were suited up in tyvek suits and SCBA and prepared to enter and get the cow.  This consisted of two firefighters, one being FF Bill "I lived in Delaware County, I saw cows in the zoo" Platt.  Luckily, after monitoring the atmosphere, it was deemed that the air was of good quality, so the farmer and friends could go and wrangle the cow into a rescue position.  Once this was accomplished, said cow was removed from the pit and tended to by the caring and compassionate fire company members. 

The company was in service for over one hour, plus an additional hour cleaning the poo off of the equipment.  Thanks to Bart Twp. FC and Colerain Township for the assist.