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Post by wardengine on Oct 27, 2008 13:00:17 GMT -5
Fire destroyed the building in which the Forestville Fire Company's equipment is stored.
The blaze broke out at 12:30 a.m. Monday at the facility on Line Avenue. Three of the company's trucks were destroyed, including a 1931 vehicle. One truck was saved when Forestville firefighter Elvin Brennan arrived on the scene with his son, Elvin Brennan III. The elder Brennan ran into the building and drove the truck through one of the garage doors.
Firefighters from Forestville were joined by personnel from surrounding companies, among them Llewellyn, Minersville, Phoenix Park and South Cass.
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Post by wardengine on Oct 27, 2008 13:00:48 GMT -5
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Post by wardengine on Oct 27, 2008 13:01:17 GMT -5
saved by a firefighter driving it through the bay door and used to fight the fire  |
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rdw
New Member
Posts: 13
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Post by rdw on Oct 27, 2008 18:07:45 GMT -5
Sad to hear about Forestville. Being a fire company I know they will be back stronger and better. Hope somehow the 1931 can be rebuilt. If anyone has pictures of the damaged building and appparatus, please post. I seen the ones on the SmugMug site of the fire.  |
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Post by wardengine on Oct 28, 2008 8:47:02 GMT -5
FORESTVILLE — Forestville Fire Company Chief Fred Meusel could not believe the call he received early Monday morning telling him the firehouse was burning.
“It was a shocker,” he said as he scanned the charred rubble that had housed the company’s four engines. “It was like I was dreaming.”
However, what Meusel and other fire company members surveyed more closely resembled a nightmare: Three of those engines destroyed and a blackened and roofless building that housed only ashes and trash as the result of the 12:30 a.m. blaze believed caused by an electrical malfunction.
“All of our gear, everything was destroyed, extra gear, compressor system,” Meusel said.
The firefighters estimate damage in the range of $750,000, he added.
No one was hurt in the fire, which Meusel said was brought under control in about an hour. The neighboring social hall sustained only minor damage, he said, and the fire touched no other buildings in this Cass Township village.
Meusel said state police Trooper Michael J. Yeity of the Reading station and state police fire marshal Trooper John F. Burns of the Frackville station each investigated the blaze, and Yeity, who Meusel said is in charge of the probe, concluded it was accidental.
“He’s saying electrical,” Meusel said while cleaning out the firehouse. “Some of the radio chargers and flashlight chargers were the culprits.”
Neither Yeity nor Burns was available Monday afternoon for comment on the cause or other aspects of the fire.
Meusel said an insurance adjuster will be at the firehouse today and that any plans for rebuilding the structure will be on hold until after the visit.
Cass Township Supervisor Brian Canfield said Monday that he was saddened by the fire, but relieved there was no loss of life.
“The board will be contacting officials from the fire company to see what assistance it can provide,” he said. The company already gets a share of the township’s $52 local services tax, Canfield said.
Saddened members of the company, which has about 20 active firefighters, talked among themselves and stared at the remains of the firehouse on Line Avenue. The odor of smoke lingered around the 22-year-old building.
Only a few minor metal tools were salvaged from the firehouse, Meusel said.
They have two things on which to build hope for the future, he continued, including the social hall, which survived, and the surviving engine, which was their newest, a 1986 Hahn pumper that company member Elvin Brennan saved by driving it through a closed garage door as the fire burned.
“As soon as I got it out, the whole place went up,” Brennan said.
Brennan said he arrived about 12:30 a.m. after his son, Elvin Brennan III, saw the fire while on his way home.
“It was in the corner at the time I got there,” the elder Brennan said. “It wasn’t really that bad. I didn’t think it was going to burn. I wanted to get our hose one out.”
He did not have the chance to do so, however, and it was lost, along with two other engines, including the pride of the company, a 1931 Hahn.
“It was in A-1 condition. It was beautiful,” said Nick Brilla, a member of the company for 50 years. “We had the flood of ’72. It pumped for five days straight.”
The company remains intact, however. Meusel said South Cass Township Fire Company, Primrose, has donated gear to allow the members to continue their work, and Doli Construction Co. has allowed the company to park the remaining engine in a garage next to the company property.
Coincidentally, Meusel said, the same engine had been parked in the same garage, then known as Demcher’s Garage, while the firehouse was being built.
Firefighters from South Cass Township, Branch Township and Minersville helped Forestville fight the blaze.
Canfield said the fire is a blow to more than just Forestville.
“It’s a large loss, not only to the township but to the entire community it serves,” he said.
A special fund has been established to help the Forestville Fire Company.
Donations can be sent to:
First National Bank of Minersville, care of Forestville Fire Company Fire Loss Fund, 260 Sunbury St., Minersville, PA 17954.
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Post by wardengine on Oct 28, 2008 11:32:50 GMT -5
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Post by wardengine on Oct 30, 2008 14:13:03 GMT -5
javascript:PopUp('http://www.firehouse.com/hotshots/slideshow/phpslideshow.php?directory=2008/11_pa_antique_truck',650,500)
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