SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, PA – Around 2:00 AM on April 6 Schuylkill County 9-1-1 dispatched the Mahanoy City Fire Department, Frackville for their ladder, Mahanoy City EMS and Shenandoah ALS to 329 East Centre Street in Mahanoy City for a reported house fire.
First responding units were advised that multiple calls were received for smoke and flames coming from the first floor of a rowhome. Assistant Chieff 455 arrived on the scene and confirmed the working fire with heavy fire from Side “A” and stated there was possible entrapment.
Tower 456 arrived on the scene and pulled past the address. Engine 451 took the address with Engine 454 directly behind them. Ladder 457 positioned next to E451. Crews stretched lines and set up the tower. A request for the second alarm was transmitted.
A patient was quickly removed from the building and handed off to EMS. After a quick assessment, EMS requested aeromedical to fly to a local landing zone to fly the patient to a burn center. Additional EMS units were requested into the scene as there were reports of two additional people unaccounted for.
Crews were making good progress on the fire and pulled the two additional people from the building. Conditions quickly changed and firefighters pulled out of the building as the smoke conditions worsened and fire began to vent from the third floor windows.
The heavy fire was knocked down with the deck gun from Engine 451 and crews re-entered the building. The bulk of the fire was knocked down within thirty minutes of the initial dispatch.
A county coroner was requested to the scene as crews continued to mop up the fire. A State Police fire marshal was also requested to the scene to investigate the cause.
Crews began to be released from the scene around 4:00AM with all crews clearing up in the morning.
