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ENGINE CREW GETS SPECIALED TO OAKRIDGE BUILDING FIRE
At 2306 hrs, on August 23, a Firefighter from Company 215 was traveling on Battle Ridge Road in South Fayette when he noticed a large amount of smoke and fire in the area of Boys Home Road. Allegheny County Fire Communications was immediately notified for the unknown type fire. Being an unknown type fire, Company 269 (Oakridge) was the department on the run card to investigate. As 269 Engine arrived in the area it was discovered that there was a moderate sized vacant commercial building (the former Oakdale Boys Industrial Home) fully involved. At 2320 hrs the call was upgraded to a Commercial Structure Fire.
With the upgrade to building fire the balance of the card included Engines 267 (Sturgeon), 268 (Fairview), 125 (Presto), Trucks, 266 (Cuddy) and 12 (McDonald Washington County). As the men of 215 were relaxing after a night of training, they hard the call go out and advised 269 Chief that they were standing by with 6 Volunteers. 269 Chief then added the Wagon from 215 to the assignment at 2325 hrs. After the short 1.3 mile ride up Union Ave, the Engine Company arrived on scene ahead of most of the first due companies.
After cutting their way through the woods to get to the building Command assigned 215 Engine to water supply. Following the 1500’ lay of 5” hose 215 Engine supplied 269 Engine with water for the remainder of the detail.
The crew of the Engine was then assigned to suppression duties on both the Charlie and Alpha side of the building until 0141 hrs when the fire was deemed under control by Command. After repacking the 1500’ of hose the men of Company 215 returned to service at 0314 hrs.
(Units on scene: Engines: 269 125-1, 125-2, 215, 267-1, 267-2, and 268. Truck 266. Brush: 266 and 12. Truck 12 covered the valley from” everyone’s favorite fire department”, Station 215)
***History on the Oakdale Boys Industrial Home: The Oakdale Boys Home was opened in 1900 and spanned 371 acres. The “home” (a maximum security facility) housed 130-150 juvenile delinquent boys ranging in age from 6-18 years old. The boys came from 31 counties across Pennsylvania. The boy’s average sentence was 18 months. After becoming a resident of the home, the boys were forced to farm the land for hay, corn, oats, wheat, milk, and butter. If a “resident” acted out or escaped, his head was shaved and he was sent to the dungeon on the 2nd floor of the main building to be kept in solitary confinement. The home was closed down by the state in May of 1977 after “zoning issues” with South Fayette Township.***
04/25/2011 – MVA – 7200 block of Noblestown Road
It appeared that the auto was traveling from the McDonald area and failed to negotiate a sweeping turn at Linden Lane. The vehicle then rode up the guide wire of the pole, flipped, spun around, and landed on the driver’s side facing the “wrong way”. Rescue 209 was also on the assignment but was canceled by Asst. Chief Hartman when it was discovered that all occupants were out of the auto.
04/17/2011 – Possible Hot Wires Down – Gamble RD/Azalea DR
At 15:45 Allegheny County Fire Communications dispatched Company 215 to possible hot wires down in the area of Gamble Rd and Azalea Dr. While enroute to the station, 215 Asst Chief radioed ACFC with the request of our “fire tones” to be hit out again in order to set the whistle off since it wasn’t triggered from initial dispatch. 215 Deputy immediately radioed 215 Asst to tell him that it wasn’t necessary since there was at least 7 of us convoying off the hill. 215 Asst received and notified 215 Deputy that he was just going to respond to the scene via POV. 215 Engine (chauffeured by FF Roger Williams) was enroute minutes later with a full crew of 8. Nothing was found in the area of Gamble Rd and Azalea Dr, instead, approximately a half of a mile shy on Gamble Rd Units found a cable wire that was on the ground to the side of the road. 215 Capt deployed the Tac-Stick to check to see if there was a presence of electric current. Results were negative along with discovering the one end was disconnected from the pole. Company members removed the cable from the road way and cleared the scene at 16:04.
04/07/2011 – DWELLING FIRE – 80 BLOCK OF GRACE LANE
As the members of the Oakdale Hose Company were returning to “America’s Home Town”, after a long hard day at work, their rest and relaxation would be short lived. At 1729 Hours, Engine Company 215 was alerted to respond on a first alarm assignment to the 80 Block of Grace Lane for a reported dwelling fire with possible entrapment.
215 Engine quickly responded with 7 Volunteers, followed by 215 Rescue with 4, and 215 Engine 2 with 4 men. North Fayette Police arrived on the scene and relayed to Allegheny County Fire Communications a report of a fully involved mobile home fire. 267 Engine arrived shortly after to confirm the report given by North Fayette Police. Water supply was quickly established by 267 Engine and two 1-3/4″ preconnected hand lines were stretched to start the initial attack. Attack crews made entry and began interior fire fighting operations. 215 engine’s crew were sent in behind 267′s crews to provide support with fire suppresion efforts and began to open the structure up. Truck 12′s crew began horizontaly ventilating and then began overhauling. The bulk of the fire was expediently knocked down and the fire was deemed under control at 1745 hours by Chief 267. Shortly thereafter, the bulk of the crews and equipment were released by command. As per the authority of 267 Chief, 267 Engine and 215 Engine would remain on the scene to await the Fire Marshall’s Office.
The American Red Cross was contacted for the 4 displaced victims.
Units on scene: 267 Engine, 215 Engine, 215 Engine 2, 215 Rescue, 209 Engine 2, 209 Engine 3, 209 Rescue, 12 Engine (McDonald), 12 Truck (McDonald), 13 Engine (R.I.T.) (Midway), Medic 195-1, Rehab 313 (NorthWest EMS), Allegheny County Fire Marshall’s
04/04/2011 – VEHICLE CRASH – 7500 BLOCK NOBLESTOWN ROAD
At 0815 hours, the Volunteers of Companies 267 (Sturgeon) and 215 were alerted to respond to the 7500 Block of Noblestown Road in North Fayette for a Motor Vehicle Crash with injuries. Company 215 immediately acknowledged the call and the Rescue was en-route at 0817 HRS.
Both Rescues arrived on scene at the same time to find 1 auto into a utility pole with moderate damage to the drivers side and both airbags deployed. The victim was self extricated and was sitting on the near by steps being interviewed by North Fayette Police. NorthWest EMS arrived on scene and took over patient care. Company 267 mitigated hazards and the responders from both companies assisted NorthWest in immobilization and patient packaging
Units on scene: 267 Rescue, 215 Rescue, NorthWest EMS
Chimney Fire on 1st Street
As the Volunteers of Company 215 were enjoying another “Hockey Night in Pittsburgh”, the 3rd period against the rival Philadelphia Flyers was interrupted by Allegheny County Fire Communications for a reported chimney fire in the 600 block of 1st Street in the Boro. Company 215 was alerted at 21:12:36 hrs and went en-route with 6 firefighters and Asst. Chief Rutkauskas going direct to the scene at 21:13:10 hrs (yes, en-route with 7 Volunteers in 34 seconds!) 267 Engine, 209 Engine, 209 Truck, and Medic 195-1 were also alerted to respond. 152 Engine (Imperial) was repositioned to Station 209 and 269 Rescue (Oakridge) was repositioned to Oakdale on immediate 1st alarm transfers.
Upon the arrival of Asst. Chief Rutkauskas, sparks were found to be coming from the chimney and the dwelling was evacuated. As per the authority of the Asst. Chief the card was held to 1 Engine and the balance was returned to their quarters. The men of the Oakdale Hose Company quickly mitigated the hazards and returned at 2128 hrs.
The Crew of 215 Engine consisted of: Capt Evyn Ray, Firefighters Chris Kline, Jon Little, Andrew Little, Luke Navickas, and Jr. Firefighter Matthew Kline. Asst Chief Dave Rutkauskas was the Incident Commander.