At 4:09 AM the DFD was dispatched for a possible house fire in the 200 block of Mary St. in the West Ward of the Borough.  The Downingtown Police arrived shortly after the dispatch and advised that they had fire showing from the rear of the two and a half story Half of Double (twin) house with possible people trapped inside of the house.  Assistant Chief 46 (S. Miller) immediately requested the DFD General Alarm (both stations for full company responses) with Engine and Rescue 38 (Thorndale Fire Co.) for the Rapid Intervention Team to be dispatched.

Assistant 46 arrived on location and assumed Incident Command, while Deputy 45 (Nelms) arrived and assumed Operations, with Chief 46 (M. Miller) assuming Side C and D Command.  Engine 46-1 (Capt. T. Swisher) laid a 5" supply line from a hydrant at the corner of William St. and Whelen Ave. with their crew deploying a 1.75" attack line to the front door of the house.  During this time, the info that the Chief's were getting was that victims were on the upper floors while Engineer T. Lee, Jr strategically placed Engine 45 in front of the house on Mary St.  The Engine 45 crew split into two teams with Lt. Colburn and FF Wesson raising ground ladders to the upper floors of Side D.  Suddenly, as FF's C. Keen and K. Stevens were getting ready to enter the house for search and rescue, a man appeared at and broke a side window.  Keen and Stevens pulled this man from the window to safety and turned him over to the waiting Medics and EMT's from Ambulance 46-1.

This victim advised the team that there was still another man inside, possibly on the third floor.  The crew from Engine 46-1 (Lt. Lee, IV) was pushing-in with their attack line into the now, well-involved first floor fire and it was decided that Keen and Lt. Colburn would need to do a VES (Vent Enter Search) through the third floor side window.  Just after Keen entered the window and Lt. Colburn about to enter, the entire room flashed on them.  Colburn directed Keen to the window and assisted him out and down the ladder to safety.  The crew from Tower 45 (Capt. Moore) raised ground ladders then went into the exposure side of the house to do a search and rescue of a possible child that was still on the upper floors of the the exposure.  The crew from Engine 46-2 (Lt. Kowalczyk) advanced a 1.75" attack line into the exposure and found heavy fire in the center wall and in the basement stairs.  Capt. 46 (T. Swisher) with FF's Wesson and K. Stevens entered the original fire building to attempt a search and rescue for the second victim with the protection of the attack line from Engine 46-1 and a back-up line from Engine 45.  However, they found the same condition as the exposure, with heavy fire in the basement and the second floor stairs burning.  All companies were ordered out of the houses due to deteriorating conditions and the operation would be switched-over to an offensive-defensive mode to contain the fire before reentering.  It was later learned that the second victim exited the house on his own prior to our arrival.

Rescue 45 (Lt. J. Stevens) was the Command Post and the crew assisted with stretching the back-up lines, feeding hose to the engine companies and fire attack to the rear of the houses.  The second alarm was struck, moving the stand-by units into the scene - Tower 47 (Lionville Fire Co.) from Station 45, Engine 6-2 (West Whiteland) from Station 46 and Engine 35 (Wagontown Fire Co.) from Station 38.

Tower 47 was placed on the side street (Whelen Ave.) and was used to ventilate the rear section of the roof, in addition to using their ground ladders.  The crews from Engines 6-2, 35 and 38 were used for secondary searches and  overhaul.  The victim that was rescued from the window was flown by SkyFlight Care to a Trauma Center.  Engine 39-3 (West Bradford Fire Co.) handled the landing zone for the helicopter.  The cause of the fire is being investigated by the Chester County and State Fire Marshals.

Other units that assisted at the scene were:  Squad 45, Air-Light 46, Ambulance and Medic 46-2, Ambulance 41-2 (Washington Hose Co.), Micu 87 (Uwchlan Amb.) and Medic 93 (Brandywine Hospital).

Stand-by coverage was provided by Ladder 49 (East Brandywine Fire Co.) at Station 45, Engine 56 (Goshen Fire Co.) at Station 46 and Engine 31-2 (Sadsburyville Fire Co.) at Station 38.

After the DFD returned to their stations and got all of the apparatus back in service, at 9:40 AM, 30 members volunteered to participate in an eight hour PA Basic Boating Safety Training class, conducted by WhiteCap Water Rescue.

All photos are courtesy of Joel Gramling.