WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, SCHUYLKILL COUNTY: On Friday 10-7-2011 at 13:53 hours the Pine Grove Fire Department (two stations), Wayne Township Fire Department (two stations) and Pine Grove Ambulance were dispatched to 446 DeTurksville Road in Washington Township for a commercial fire. The caller reported there was a fire in the holding barn for wood chips at Blue Mountain Enterprises.
A Pine Grove fire chief arrived on the fire scene and called the second alarm tanker task force. Tankers from Schuylkill and Berks County were then dispatched and sent to the fire scene. Fire fighters from Freidensburg arrived first and found a working fire in the rear of the temporary building. Fire fighters were able advance hose lines from Engine 34-10 and knocked down the stubborn fire. The engine was then feed water from Tanker 34-30. The additional arriving engines and tankers staged on DeTurksville Road. Fire fighters then set up a large dump site using three portable ponds. Pine Grove Engine 58-15 draft from the portable ponds that were keep filled by tanker trucks. The engine pumped the water through 1,000 feet of five inch hose to Engine 34-10. Pine Grove Ladder 58-25 was set into the air to prepare to flow an elevated master stream. Schuylkill Haven Engine 733 drafted from a pond just east of the fire scene on Route 443. The fire was placed under control in less than 90 minutes which allowed the second alarm tankers and fire units to return.
The fire was to have started in the holding barn for wood chips and spread through out the structure. The building received moderate fire damage to the south side of the barn. The incident was on the same site were a wood working business was destroyed by a fire a years ago.
A Pine Grove fire chief arrived on the fire scene and called the second alarm tanker task force. Tankers from Schuylkill and Berks County were then dispatched and sent to the fire scene. Fire fighters from Freidensburg arrived first and found a working fire in the rear of the temporary building. Fire fighters were able advance hose lines from Engine 34-10 and knocked down the stubborn fire. The engine was then feed water from Tanker 34-30. The additional arriving engines and tankers staged on DeTurksville Road. Fire fighters then set up a large dump site using three portable ponds. Pine Grove Engine 58-15 draft from the portable ponds that were keep filled by tanker trucks. The engine pumped the water through 1,000 feet of five inch hose to Engine 34-10. Pine Grove Ladder 58-25 was set into the air to prepare to flow an elevated master stream. Schuylkill Haven Engine 733 drafted from a pond just east of the fire scene on Route 443. The fire was placed under control in less than 90 minutes which allowed the second alarm tankers and fire units to return.
The fire was to have started in the holding barn for wood chips and spread through out the structure. The building received moderate fire damage to the south side of the barn. The incident was on the same site were a wood working business was destroyed by a fire a years ago.
