Working Chicken House Fire - Mt. Hermon Road - Parsonsburg
Saturday, July 7, 2018
At 2309 hrs, Stations 6, 7 (Pittsville), & 11 (Powellville) were alerted for a chicken house fire on Mt. Hermon Rd. in the area of Forest Grove Rd. As units were enroute, 619 (Captain Foreman) arrived on scene POV and confirmed a working fire. Command 6 arrived and 617 (A/C Tyler) established command and advised units to operate defensively. Command assigned each of the first 3 engines to drop a supply line at the end of the driveway and lay in with E605 to the "D" side, E/T703 to the "A" side, and E1103 to the "C" side. Upon arrival, RE604 was sent to the "B" side. Tankers 608 and 1101 established water supply. A cover-up for station 6 was immediately requested from Sta.74 (Delmar) and an engine from Station 8 (Willards) was transferred to Sta.7. As crews went to work, they discovered that the chicken house was being used for multiple purposes and found an extreme fire load inside. Water Supply (616 - Dep. Chief Rickards) requested additional tankers to the scene. E707 was sent to draft to fill tankers at a site about 1 1/2 miles west of the fire scene. The fire was placed under control at 0038 hrs with all units still working on extensive overhaul. Due to the materials inside the strucure, a request was made for the Sussex County, DE foam trailer from Sta.77 (Georgetown) to respond. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Maryland State Fire Marshall's Office. One firefighter from Parsonsburg was transported to PRMC for a minor injury. The firefighter was treated and released prior to units clearing the scene. The final units left the scene at 0334 hrs.
Units On Scene:
Parsonsburg - Command 6, E605, RE604, T608, PMB6, TC6
Pittsville - E/T703, E707, R7, B7
Powellville - E1103, T1101
Willards - T8
Delmar - E/T74-2, T74-5
Salsibury - E/T 1-1, Utility 1, Air Light 2
Gumboro (Sussex County, DE) - T79-3
Georgetown (Sussex County, DE) - Utility 77-9 & Foam Trailer
MSFMO, MSP, Parsonsburg VFC Auxilliary (Rehab)
Cover-Up Assignments:
Sta.6 - E301 & T305 (Fruitland)
Sta.7 - E801, Utility 8 (Willards) & T88
(Selbyville, DE)
Sta.8 - T605 (Berlin)
We would like to thank all companies and personnel that responded to this incident and worked to save some of the valuable property stored in the building. The rural water supply operation was seamless, other than one minor flaw in the beginning of the incident, water supply was never lost and a total of 50,000 (+-) gallons of water was shuttled to the scene.
***Update April 23, 2009*** According to www.delmarvanow.com , the Maryland State Fire Marshall's Office has determined the cause of this fire to be arson.