Today Decon 21 participated in a law enforcement hazardous materials exercise with local, county, and federal agencies. Our objective for this drill was to set up and perform decontamination for responders who were investigating various incidents that were potentially hazardous.
PENN WYNNE GOES FISHING
Date:
5.22.10
Saturday morning a handful of firefighters traveled down to Cape May, New Jersey for a four hour deep sea fishing outing. The weather was great as the group went out,
caught a handful of fish (including two sharks) and had a fun time. Other summer outings are currently in the works.
Burn Drill
Date:
4.21.10
On Wednesday evening, members from Penn Wynne traveled to the Lower Merion Township Training Tower for our monthly burn drill. Utilizing a tool often overlooked, firefighters from the company completed three different evolutions using pressurized water extinguishers. Each evolution, taught and reminded members a different tactic for containing and extinguishing small room and content fires. This weeks drill was an excellent review for our senior firefighters, as well as a great learning experience for the company's newer members who were amazed at the amount of fire one water can will extinguish.
REMEMBERING OUR BROTHER
Date:
4.17.10
Members traveled to the Public Safety Training Campus for a ceremony and dedication remembering two firefighters, one of them being township firefighter Tom Hays. Tom passed away in December 2006 after operating at a fire in Wynnewood. Tom started his career at the Merion Fire Company of Ardmore, then joined the Narberth Fire Company, and still loved the job and had enough time to join the Penn Wynne Fire Company. Today we gathered to remember and honor their memory so no one forgets their sacrifice.
LADDER ASSIST
Date:
4.16.10
This morning firefighters from the Penn Wynne Fire Company attended a special ceremony at the Penn Wynne Elementary School with Ladder 21. The students and staff participated in the Philadelphia 76ers “Read for Ronald” program and fundraiser during February, 2010. As an incentive to read and to raise money for such a worthy cause, Mr. Bernatowicz, the school principal, agreed to spend a school day reading on the roof of the Penn Wynne School if the number of minutes read by everyone totaled more than 100,000 minutes. The students and staff rose to the challenge and read for 145,495 minutes raising $6,651.00. Accordingly, this morning Mr. B climbed to the roof with the asistance of a few of our firefighters as the students and staff watched and cheered him on. Mr. B spent the day reading and greeting the students as they played on the field during recess.
EXTRA TRAINING ACQUIRED STRUCTURE DRILL
Date:
4.5.10
On Monday evening 6 members from Penn Wynne mounted Rescue 21 and headed to the 1200 block of Rock Creek Road, in the Gladwyne section of Lower Merion, to drill at an acquired structure slated for demolition. Once on location, our crew teamed up with crews from the Merion Fire Company of Ardmore, Station 25, to perform multiple fire attack, search & rescue and roof ventilation evolutions. Since these types of drills are few and far between, we wanted to take advantage of this type of training. We would like to thank our neighbors to the north for allowing us to participate in this drill, and we look forward to working together at joint drills in the future!
FROM PENN WYNNE TO THE BIG APPLE
Date:
3.15 - 3.16
On Sunday evening, three members of the Penn Wynne Fire Company departed Lower Merion Township for the Big Apple for a two-day Fire Service Symposium. Assistant Chief David Watrous, Engineer Chris Feder, and Firefighter Brad Remick attended the 2010 FDNY Special Operations Symposium held at the FDNY Fire Academy AKA “The Rock”. This year’s symposium focused on procedures of the FDNY’s Special Operations Command. The conference was attended by over 400 professionals from across the country and around the world, including Australia, the Netherlands, Panama, Canada, France and of course Penn Wynne. FDNY chiefs and company officers gave lectures on a variety of topics, such as hazardous materials operations, rescue company procedures, safety command guidelines, marine company operations and anti-terrorist command procedures. A special presentation also was given by Chief Joe Downey, who headed up the FDNY’s Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) team in Haiti.
Penn Wynne attendees absorbed a plethora of information, spoke with commanding officers and networked with other professionals from the fire service community. There was a variety of manufactures on display showing off the latest and greatest tools in the public safety world. Following the end of the days presentations, tours of the facility were offered to the brother and sisters who attended. Penn Wynne members felt it was their duty to take the tour and bring back some ideas for training.
Little did we know that we would be touring a training academy like no other. The training grounds included a full-scale city “mini” city with inside training facilities. One of these facilities was called the field house. FDNY members are able to drive in apparatus into the 6-story building, which has a cover and bay doors, and conduct full scale training evolutions. Some of these evolutions include tower ladder operations, ground ladder evolutions, rappelling and high angle rescue, hose advancement, apparatus placement and a variety of other evolutions. The grounds also included a full-scale subway platform with three actual subway cars.
The symposium was a great success and members are looking forward to next year’s topic. A great thanks goes out to the FDNY Foundation for sponsoring this event and FDNY for hosting this symposium. A great deal of information was passed on. The Fire Department of New York has learned a great deal since the September 11th attacks and we were happy to have been a part of absorbing this information and bringing it back to our Brothers and Sisters in Lower Merion.
God Bless
Ice Rescue Certification
Date:
2.28.10
Well the snowy month of February did not stop the Bomberos from Penn Wynne from conducting training, in fact, it made training easier. Members from the Penn Wynne, Gladwyne, Belmont Hills, and Spring Mill Fire Companies completed an Ice Rescue program. The program began on a Tuesday evening with the Ice Rescue Awareness portion. The next evening and following Sunday we completed the Technician portion. Members braved the cold weather and headed for the fairway of the Philadelphia Country Club. We teed of at 9am with the first four people walking on ice. Over the course of the day, firefighters were able to practice everything they were taught in the classroom. In order to obtain certification as an “Ice Rescue Technician”, members had to don our cold water immersion suits carefully walk to the hole in the ice and conduct a variety of rescues using various techniques. To keep the rotation moving and allow members to stay warm, the inflatable Zumro tent from Decon 21 was set up with the
accompanying heater. At the end of the day, everyone did a great job and learned a great deal
Special thanks goes out to the Gladwyne Fire Company for their assistance and cooperation in the program and to Start Rescue, Inc. for providing well trained, professional, and knowledgeable Instructors. A VERY special thanks to the Philadelphia County Club and Dan from the Grounds Department for allowing us to use their facilities for this program. The Country Club was kind enough to provide us with Hot Coffee, Tea and Hot Chocolate all day and a warm lunch.
We hope that the next time we “tee off”, there will not be a foot of snow on the ground.
ANNUAL COMPANY SOCIAL
Date:
2.25.10
The annual fire company social is just around the corner, and the Penn Wynne Fire Company invites all area first responders to come and gather for a night of good food and camaraderie at 8PM on Thursday February 25th at the firehouse..
MORE SNOW!
Date:
2.9.10-2.10.10
The Delaware Valley was hit with yet another significant snow fall, this one producing a heavier, wetter snow. This made clearing more difficult, and brought down wires and tree limbs all over the area. Once again members stepped up to the plate and manned the station for 48 hours.
The company reminds all citizens to please adopt a hydrant on your street and clear the mound of snow that covers it. This helps us better protect you!
ANOTHER MAJOR SNOW STORM
Date:
2.5.10-2.6.10
The Delaware
Valley was hit with another major snow storm Friday night
and most of Saturday, totally 28 inches. Eight (8)
dedicated volunteers manned the station for 36 hours,
answering three calls. The first call was an accidental
fire alarm, the second call was a vehicle rescue where
no services were rendered, and finally we went out to assist
the ambulance on a medical local.
RIT
21 ON FATAL APARTMENT FIRE
Date:
2.2.10
Tuesday evening
Station 25 (Ardmore) was dispatched to the Hunter House
Apartments at 449 West Montgomery Avenue for a fire alarm
activation. The call was upgraded to a building fire with
residence reporting smoke on the second floor with one
apartment door feeling hot. The Working Fire upgrade was
added to the ticket bringing Engine and Air 24 along with
Rescue 21 for the RIT. The RIT crew of 6 arrived and staged
our equipment at the command post. A minute later we were
requested to go to work and assist with searches and
evacuating the residence. Engine 21 was dispatched to take
over RIT duties. Rescue 21's crew split up and each took a
different floor, conducting secondary searches and smoke
evacuations. Engine 25's crew held the fire to the bedroom
it started in, unfortunately one victim was found in that
bedroom and was deceased.
Units on Scene: Ardmore (full
company), Bryn Mawr (full company), Gladwyne (full company),
Rescue & Engine 21, Narberth Ambulance, Lower Merion Fire
Department Office, Lower Merion Police, Montgomery County
Detectives & Coroner.
HOSPITAL RESCUE
Date:
2.1.10
This morning
Company 21, Rescue 22, and Narberth Ambulance were
dispatched to Lankenau Hospital for an injured worker on a
roof. Assistant 21-1 (D. Gilbert) arrived and established
the command. Crews found an injured worker on the roof,
with no technical rescue equipment needed to remove him.
The victim was carried off of the roof and handed over to
Lankenaus' Emergency Department.
THREE
FOR SATURDAY
Date:
1.30.10
Saturday morning
Engine 21 relocated to The Village of Gladwyne while they
operated at a three alarm apartment complex fire in Chester
County. Three hours into the coverage, a building fire was
dispatched in the Ardmore section of the township. Chief 25
was quickly on scene reporting a working fire with
entrapment. The working fire upgrade brought the balance of
Penn Wynne and the cover up Engine into the scene. Crews
from Ardmore, Bryn Mawr, Penn Wynne and Gladwyne operated in
a three story twin converted to apartments with fire that
started in the basement and extended to the second floor. As
we were wrapping up, we were treated to a some snow which
ended up blanketing the area. Later that night the company
went to the unit block of Henley Road for an oven fire.
Crews secured the oven that caught fire in an attempt to
ride the house of some wildlife that had entered.
