Saturday kept Skippack Firefighters busy. Just before 6am Skippack was dispatched with our Tanker to assist Towamencin Fire Co. at a reported house fire. Tanker 86 was the first fire apparatus on the scene. Fortunately there was no fire or serious damage to the residence.
Then at 7:30 Saturday night in the middle of Halloween festivities Skippack and several other local companies were dispatched to Perkiomen to assist them at a house fire with multiple calls of a working fire. First arriving crews found fire showing from windows of a middle of the row townhouse. Perkiomen and Lower Frederick firefighters arrived on scene and immediately knocked the fire down with large hose lines and entered the house. Squad 86 with a crew of 6 firefighters arrived shortly after and assisted with checking for extension and limiting damage to neighboring homes, while the driver assisted with establishing a water supply and putting up ground ladders on the back of the house for emergency escapes and checking for fire extension. Crews remained on scene for several hours to ensure there were no hot spots or extension. Fortunately no one was hurt and damage to neighboring homes was limited due to the quick actions of responding firefighters. Skippack firefighters returned home about 3 1/2 hours later.
Then at 1:30am Skippack Fire was dispatched to assist Skippack EMS at a medical emergency.
Later that night, after the clock change, Skippack was dispatched at 2am as part of a rescue task force to assist with a trapped firefighter at a house fire in Upper Frederick after they reportedly fell through a floor. Fortunately the firefighter was removed before the arrival of the rescue task force with no serious injuries.
So far Sunday we have had 4 more calls starting with an odor of gas outside at 7 am this morning. This afternoon was a call to assist Trappe Fire Company at a reported structure fire that luckily turned out to be a small fire in the kitchen. On the way home from that call we were alerted to a house filled with smoke in Skippack. We were in service for a few minutes ventilating the house and checking it for Carbon Monoxide after a small stove fire.
Hopefully the last call of the day was assisting the ambulance with lifting at 6pm. Your volunteers have had an incredibly busy weekend.
While the changing of the clocks today gave us an extra hour of sleep, remember when you change your clocks it's a good time to change the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. While you replace the batteries please also check the dates of your detectors. Smoke detectors should be replaced every 10 years and carbon monoxide detector after 7. Some newer detectors have 10 year batteries as a reminder to replace them after 10 years. |