3 Alarms in Lemoyne
Saturday evening around 2330hrs, the first alarm assignment was struck out for a house fire at 417 Hummel Ave. in Lemoyne. The Police Department arrived on the scene first with a smoke condition. Squad 13 soon followed with a crew of 4 and advanced the first handline into the basement of the 3 story duplex. The Police Department expressed concern for the well-being of the occupants of the other half of the duplex. Upon their arrival the occupants vehicle was parked in front of the residence however their location was unknown. The next in piece conducted a thorough primary search with a negative result. The secondary search was done with the same result. Later in the incident it was learned the occupants were not home and were safe.
The fire quickly spread from the basement through the house constructed in the early 1900’s. There were numerous spaces within interior walls of the building that allowed the fire to travel very quickly. In a short period of time the fire went from the basement to the roof while presenting a small amount of fire to the crews on the first and second floors. Second alarm was requested 20 minutes in to the incident. Around that time the crew on the first floor encountered heavy heat from the floor with thick black smoke pushing from a vent in the floor from the basement. At this point the interior crew advised command of the conditions and recommended an evacuation. Command immediately acted on this and activated the evacuation alarms through the communication center as well as on the fire ground. The incident was committed to a defensive operation.
Crews poured water in to openings from outside the building and protected the neighboring structure a mere 4 feet away. Crews spent the next few hours trying to extinguish the fire building. Overhaul and extiguishment of hot spots in the structure was difficult due to the lack of structural integrity in the building. There were several small areas of collapse throughout the structure which prevented crews from being able to safely enter the structure. It was easy to look in a third floor window and have a clear view of a large portion of the basement. The fire building is a total loss. The exposure building suffered some minor damage totaling $5,000 – $10,000 from smoke and water. Crews worked extremely well together. Overall the incident went to 3 alarms and a few special calls and lasted nearly 5 hours.
Special thanks to the crews of Engine 4-30 (Hampden Twp.) and Dauphin County Rescue 37 (Susquehanna Twp.) for transferring to our stations and for their assistance with cleaning up a lot of hose and getting the Squad back in service.