Structural Search and Rescue Training on Mast Road

On the evening of Monday, May 20, crews from White Horse, Intercourse, Churchtown, and New Holland gathered at a residence in the 5900 block of Mast Road in Salisbury Township for an evening of training. The residence will soon be razed, and the owners have graciously allowed Station 4-9, along with other area companies, to utilize it for training.\
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The focus of this evening’s training was searching for and rescuing victims form a simulated house fire. The “victims” were civilian adults and children from the neighborhood. Simulated smoke was provided by a theatrical smoke machine. Teams from the companies rotated through several evolutions searching for and “rescuing” the civilians throughout the evening. For the final evolution, teams entered the dwelling, and were advised to immediately evacuate the dwelling. As part of the final evolution, a firefighter was then reported as missing, and a Rapid Intervention Team was sent in to find the firefighter. He was located on the second floor, and ladders were then placed by the window, and was removed to the awaiting ambulance crew, whom “treated” the firefighter, and loaded him into Ambulance 4-9 and transported him to the “hospital”.\
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We are anticipating on returning to train some more on this structure with more of our mutual aid companies next week.\
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Station 4-9 Fire Police closed Mast Road between Mount Zion and Evans Roads during the training exercise, due to the close proximity of the house to the roadway, and fire apparatus blocking the roadway.\
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