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2022 Award Recipients were as follows:

Rookie of the Year – Doug Ross

Fire Police of the Year – Mark Hogan

Chief’s Engineer’s Award – Marvin Haines

President’s Award – Kevin Ambs

Chief’s Award – Alex Jacobson & Joe Rogers

Firefighter of the Year – Craig Guelich

There were also a couple of gag gifts presented.

The Spring Mill Fire Company Auxiliary also presented the fire company with checks to assist with our operational costs.

Engine 45, Ladder 45, Deputy 45, and Chief 45 were currently operating at a fire alarm on Summit Avenue in Whitemarsh Township at the time of dispatch, Incident # F2307382. The company was in service with fans to help evacuate smoke from burnt food. The company started to restore the apparatus from the Summit Avenue call while Chief 45 and Assistant 45 responded to the Quaker Chemical call. First arriving were the 32 PD cars, shortly after Chief 45 arrived on the scene at 13:36 with a 4-story office building/laboratory with no apparent damage to the building to any structures with a further report to follow. Assistant 45 arrived right after Chief 45. Chief 45 informed the incoming units for Engine 45 to respond in from Righter Street and stage at Righter Street and East Elm Street, and all other units to stage in the parking lot of Quaker Park, 901 East Hector Street, Engine 45 was the first arriving fire apparatus at 13:38 hours.

Chief 45 established Quaker command at 13:39 hours and switched operations over to Fire Ops 6. Chief and Assistant 45 were able to open the knox box for access to the building as well as identify the labeled contents of the leaking vessel. It was compressed liquid nitrogen, UN 1066 in the ERG book, Guide 120. The potential hazards were vapors may cause asphyxiation without warning. It is not a flammable gas, but the containers may explode when heated. The gas is cryogenic. We identified that we had a small leak on a 230-liter tank, Whitemarsh Police assisted with evacuating the 700 and 800 blocks of East Elm Street and the Schuylkill River Trail directly behind 801 East Elm Street. The command post and manpower pool were setup upwind 100 meters. Command requested for the county Haz Mat officer to call Chief 45 on his cell phone.

Command instructed Deputy 45 along with Engine 45’s crew to donn full structural firefighting PPE along with SCBA breathing air to cut the chain to the leaking dewar and confirm the contents of the vessel. Deputy 45 along with 2 other firefighters successfully conducted the recon mission. The dewar would start to off gas without notice off and on. Haz Mat officer DC81 called Chief 45 at 13:45 hours and DC81 was informed of the situation.

Command requested for 2 teams with structural firefighting gear and SCBA on air to enter the 4-story building to check for any occupants and to do air monitoring inside the structure. Captain 43 with 2 other firefighters (Entry Team 1) and Lieutenant 55 with 2 other firefighters (Entry Team 2) entered the building at 13:57 hours. Entry Team 1 started with Division 1 and Entry Team 2 started with Division 3, these teams operated on the radio channel Fireground 6. Entry Team 2 came upon a dewar on Division 3 off gasing at 14:15 hours. They identified the contents to be Argon, UN 1006 in the ERG book, Guide 120. The potential hazards were vapors may cause asphyxiation without warning. It is not a flammable gas, but the containers may explode when heated. The gas is cryogenic. We identified that we had a small leak in a 230-liter tank. Both entry teams continued to search for any occupants and other potential hazards. Both entry teams exited the building at 14:22 hours.

Chief 45 contacted DC81 and updated him on the situation and it was determined to upgrade the response to a Level 2 full Haz Mat response at 14:20 hours. At this time units staged at the command post awaiting the arrival of the Haz Mat team. At 14:29 hours per the Weather Channel, the following conditions were reported; cloudy, temperature was 46 degrees, with a real feel of 42 degrees, the wind was out of the east at 7 mph, 96% humidity with a 30% chance of rain.

DC81 arrived on the scene at 14:29 hours, and SS81 arrived at 14:47 hours. DC81 established a Haz Mat staging area in the parking of 801 East Elm Street. A Haz Mat entry team of 4 entered the building at 15:10 hours.

The initial report was from the resident who saw smoke in the basement, the caller was advised to evacuate and that they would be waiting outside for the arrival of Fire.

Assistant 24-3 was the first arriving officer, reporting to County that he had a haze and an odor of electrical on the first floor. Engine 45 along with Chief 45 arrived on scene with a crew of 3, establishing Roberts Command.

Engine 45 and 55 crews entered the building to assess the situation. They discovered that the hot water in the basement was on fire. They secured the power to the unit along with ensuring that the unit no longer had an active fire as well that there was no extension.

It was another job well done by our local first responders.

Squad and Chief 45 with a crew of 4 members responded immediately after dispatch. Deputy 7-1 was initially on-scene confirming the report of a student with their finger stuck inside a pipe on the 3rd floor.

Squad 45 arrived on the scene and its crew gathered hand tools to start the rescue operation to remove the victim’s finger from the pipe. Chief 45 assumed AIM Command during the extrication process. It was determined that the safest extrication method was to utilize hand tools to chip away at the brick and mortar around the pipe. In coordination with Whitemarsh Community Ambulance Association, it was determined that this would be a methodical process considering the patient’s stable condition. Whitemarsh Community Ambulance Association did a great job keeping the patient calm and comfortable during the rescue operation while rescue crews operated to remove the bricks.

After approximately 40 minutes the crews were able to free the patient’s finger from the wall, to make the rescue complete. Whitemarsh Community Ambulance Association transported the victim with the pipe still on their finger to CHOP Philadelphia for further treatment.

It was a job well done by all of our first responders.

Crews were dispatched at 19:15 hours for a vehicle leaking fuel at the Whitemarsh Highway Department. The initial report was a tank leaking an unknown substance in the compost area at the rear of the facility. All units responded at reduced speed, with the first due unit, Engine 45 with Lieutenant 45-1 along with a crew of 6 arrived on the scene to find a tank on a trailer not connected to a towing vehicle, leaking an unknown substance from the rear of the trailer. Squad 45, Ladder 45, Air 45, Special Service 45, and Traffic 45 also responded to assist with the incident.

Lieutenant 45-1 was the Incident Commander tasked first with identifying the unknown substance. Upon arrival, there were no hazardous materials placards visible from their vantage point. They deployed an entry team donned in full structural firefighting PPE breathing air from SCBA. Additionally, there was a safety team in full PPE with SCBA established with a charged handline on standby. The entry team discovered a flammable liquids placard with UN# 1170 only on the front side of the vessel. Assuming the product to be one of the following chemicals: Ethanol, Ethanol solution, Ethyl alcohol, or Ethyl alcohol solution.

The IC referenced the Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG) and he established a hot zone perimeter of 50 meters. A manpower pool was established at the front of Engine 45. The entry team returned, and a reconnaissance team was deployed to secure the leak by closing the open valve on the tank and creating a dike with sand to contain the leaking substance. At this point in the incident, our crews had mitigated the situation to the point that the County Hazardous Materials Response Unit would take over the incident.

After the incident, all personnel conducted a “hot wash” (critique) of the incident to discuss pros, cons, and outside-the-box thoughts.