Furnace Fire on Old Horseshoe Pike
 
By East Brandywine Fire Company
December 21, 2019
 

On Saturday December 21st just after 3:30pm the company was dispatched to the 500blk of Old Horseshoe Pike for a fire reported in a furnace. Assistant 49 and Deputy 49 both arrived at the same time and Assistant 49 reported light smoke showing from the chimney.

Engine 49-2 responded and was given the order by Deputy 49 to lay a supply line into the scene from the hydrant and stretch an 1 3/4 handline to the front door. As the crew from 49-2 began to handle this task Ladder 49's crew arrived and split their crew, one group went into the residence to investigate while another began to place ground ladders around all sides of the residence in case they would be needed.

Engines 49-5 and 49-1 arrived a short time later and those crews began assisting with the above tasks. Interior crews found a fire in the furnace which was in the attic. Luckily the fire was contained and had not spread to the house. Crews extinguished the fire with a water can and cleared out all of the burnt debris with buckets.

While on scene the crew also noticed that a tree had branches that were hanging low over the house and very close to the chimney. Two members went up on the roof and cut the tree limbs back for the homeowner. Crews then began to pack up all the hoseline and were made available a short time later.

This incident ended up being minor in nature but showed why the training the members of the fire company do each week is critical to providing top notch service to the residents in our area. One drill the fire company practices multiple times a year is the 5 minute drill where crews arrive on scene secure a water supply, stretch an attack line and place ground ladders around the whole outside of the building. With today's incident the members had all of this done in under 5 minutes thanks to all of their training.