SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, Pa. – At 3:50 AM on Friday, January 17, the Shenandoah Fire Department was dispatched with Mahanoy City West End Rescue 48-50 to the 200 Block of East Lloyd Street in Shenandoah for a possible commercial building fire.
Shenandoah Police arrived in the area and reported smoke showing from 125 East Lloyd Street. Squrt 64-20 and Ladder 64-25 arrived on scene shortly after and confirmed a working fire with all occupants out of the building.
Chief 64 arrived and assumed command of the incident finding a two story brick building that was formerly a cloth factory with smoke showing from all sides. The smoke was brown and lazy upon the fire department’s arrival.
Engine 64-12 came in and secured a water supply in the front of the building as did Engine 64-11. Engine 64-10 secured a hydrant from the West side and positioned at the A/B Corner. The tiller set up at the A/D corner with the Squrt in front of 64-10 at the A/B corner.
Crews worked to make it to the second floor and attempted to knock down the fire while a truck crew worked on opening the roof. At this point, it was determined additional manpower would be needed which led Chief 64 to request a second alarm to the scene.
The building was laddered as crews continued their efforts to knock down the fire. The smoke continued to worsen and began escaping from between the bricks on the “A” side. High winds whipped through the area swirling the smoke from the fire throughout the surrounding streets.
Flames could be seen dancing through the second floor via the large windows on the “A” side. The smoke continued to worsen as the wind continued to howl through the scene.
Around 45 minutes into the incident, Command ordered all firefighters evacuate the building and the roof. With no progress being made, Command decided the attack would now transition to a defensive mode.
As firefighters were performing an accountability report outside, a MAYDAY was declared as the roof crew was missing a member. RIT began to activate but moments later the MAYDAY was cleared. The firefighter on the roof became separated from the crew and disoriented by the low sitting smoke. Once the smoke cleared, the firefighter was able to find the nearest ladder and descend to the ground.
After firefighters were evacuated from the building, the smoke picked up intensity and fire could be seen growing in the second floor. Within minutes fire began escaping from the second floor windows. A blitzfire quickly knocked down the flames but the smoke returned and was now more turbulent than ever. After a few moments fire began breaking through all windows.
Flames shot thirty feet into the air and engulfed high tension power lines above the building. PPL Electric was on the scene and confirmed power was cut to all lines in the area of the fire.
A third alarm was requested to the scene and also a second alarm tanker task force. At this point in the incident, fire was consuming the majority of the 120′ x 70′ building.
A dump site was set up on Center Street to feed the scene where Mahanoy City Tower 48-20 set up for master stream operations in front of the building.
Water was slung onto the fire from all sides of the building including deck guns on 64-10 and 64-11, master streams from 64-20 and 64-25 and Frackville Ladder 43-20 was set up on the B/C side.
Even with the master streams in operation, fire continued to blow through the roof of the building. The “D” side of the building was in the backyard of a row of homes on Bower Street which had potential to be compromised.
Englewood Engine 4-19 positioned near the row and began to stretch lines to the rear to protect the exposures. Supply line was laid from Washington Street down to 4-19.
A third alarm was struck for tankers.
Crews continued to pour water on the fire throughout the morning. Tankers from all over Schuylkill County and some from Luzerne and Columbia Counties shuttled water to the scene until 11 AM.
Shenandoah fire units remained on scene throughout the day working on hot spots however due to the construction of the building, it would be impossible to extinguish all pockets of fire. The department was called back to the scene numerous times for flare ups.
