ELECTRICAL FIRE SPARKS RESPONSE Saturday, August 9, 2008 - A fire in the electric motor of an air handling unit caused a smoke condition which brought a full 1st Alarm Assignment to Orwigsburg Manor Nursing Home at 9:15 p.m. on Friday evening.  Firefighters from Orwigsburg, Landingville, Deer Lake, Sch. Haven and Pottsville converged on the Manor and moved residents away from the areas where smoke was detected until the source was located.  The building was not evacuated and following ventilation of the affected areas, the residents were moved back to their rooms.

VEHICLE AND MACHINERY RESCUE COURSE COMPLETED Saturday, July 19, 2008 - Schuylkill County's Technical Rescue Team took one more step forward in it's training program with completion of the Vehicle and Machinery Rescue Course.  A written test on Friday night was followed by a 6 hour practical test on Saturday in which students faced six different scenarios designed to test their skills. Nine members of the OFD's Technical Rescue Team joined 19 of our fellow team members from Yorkville Rescue, Pottsville, West End Rescue, Mahanoy City and Ryan Township for the test.  Successful completion of the program leads to Pro-Board Certification in Vehicle and Machinery Rescue.  Instructors for the course were Dennis Harris and Msgr. Bill Glosser.  Randy Padfield, Senior Education Specialist with Harrisburg Community College was coordinator for the program and provided the photos for this article.   A special thank you to USS Achey Inc. Iron and Metal for providing the vehicles and the area to conduct our test.

WORKING STRUCTURE FIRE - N. MANHEIM TWP. Saturday, July 12, 2008 - At 12:05 p.m. OFD was dispatched as part of the 2nd Alarm assignment for a working commercial structure fire in the 1912 Building at Rest Haven.  SHFD Chief Peel had the Command. The large 3 story building, which has been vacant for years, is connected to the County Nursing Home. The fire, which was the confined to the 1912 building heavily damaged the structure.  OFD firefighters operated on the first and third floors and on the roof of the building.  Co. 56 cleared the scene about 6 hours later.

TWO CALLS FOR THE DAY Monday, July 7, 2008 - On Monday, the OFD handled two calls for the day, both being MVA's. The first call was received around 11:30 for an MVA with injuries at the intersection of Rt. 61 & Brick Hill Rd. OFD conducted traffic control as EMS handled patient care. The second call alerted members to the 300 block of E. Market St. in the borough for an MVA unknown injuries. This incident resulted in a vehicle striking a parked vehicle with no injuries. Again, the OFD conducted traffic control for this incident as well.       Photo from 2nd MVA     Photo from 2nd MVA

SINGLE VEHICLE ACCIDENT - WITH THREE OCCUPANTS FLOWN Tuesday, July 1, 2008 - At 11:00 p.m. Rescue 56 headed back to Second Mountain Road to another single vehicle accident that had rolled over. The crew from Rescue 56 and Engine 5610 extricated one of the passengers from the wrecked car while EMS and OFD EMTs attended to the other two victims. Engine 5611 and Engine 4710 (Landingville) set up two landing zones at Blue Mountain High School. Two Medevac helicopters transported all three victims to area Trauma Centers.

COMMERCIAL STRUCTURE FIRE - BERKS COUNTY Tuesday, July 1, 2008 - At 5:15 p.m. OFD was dispatched as part of a mutual aid assignment from Schuylkill County that travelled to Perry Township in Berks County for a working Commercial Structure Fire. OFD provided manpower to assist with overhaul of the heavily damaged building. Company 56 returned home at 7:30 p.m.

SINGLE VEHICLE ACCIDENT - WITH A FLIGHT Monday, June 30, 2008 - At 11:15 p.m. Rescue 56 was dispatched to Second Mountain Road near USS Achey's for a single vehicle accident. A Jeep Cherokee with one occupant had left the roadway and struck a tree. OFD assisted EMS with packaging the victim. Engine 5610 was diverted to Blue Mountain High School and established a landing zone for a Medevac helicopter. The victim was transferred to a Trauma Center.

STRUCTURE FIRE - IN CRESSONA Thursday, June 26, 2008 - At 3:00 p.m. Company 56 was dispatched as part of the mutual aid assignment for a working Structure Fire on Pottsville St. in Cressona. OFD joined a large contingent of Schuylkill County firefighters in battling the blaze which caused heavy damage to the residence.

OFF ROAD RESCUE - N. MANHEIM TWP. Sunday, June 22, 2008 - Rescue 56 and Co. 47 were dispatched at 2:30 p.m. to a report of an injured motorcyclist on a mountain trail off of Ranch Road in N. Manheim Twp. A 15 year old had struck a tree while riding a dirt bike. A command post was established at 136 Ranch Road and a team from Rescue 56, accompanied by EMS personnel were able to reach the scene via an all terrain vehicle. The victim was stabilized and transported to the staging area. He was transferred by an Orwigsburg EMS unit to a landing zone at Blue Mountain High School where a Medevac helicopter was waiting to fly him to a Trauma Center. Landingville Engine 4710 handled the landing zone. OFD units cleared the scene in about 90 minutes.

ENGINE 56-10 ATTENDS FIREWORKS Saturday, June 21, 2008 - On Friday June 20 a crew along with E56-10 attended the, end of the week, vacation bible school celebration at The Lighthouse church. Members provided multiple tours of the apparatus to the kids and a little preventative fire suppression for the on lookers. Photo By: Doug Wo

OFD MCFIT AND ABLE RUN/WALK Saturday, June 21, 2008 - On Saturday, June 21, 2008, runners lined up for the fourth annual McFit & Able road race. The course started at the softball fields behind Russo's Pizza and continued through the Deer Lake Industrial Park. Runners had the choice to finish a 5K distance or run the entire loop again to finish a 10K distance. Congratulations to all of the award winners! Thank you to the local Girl Scouts and Orwigsburg Volunteer Firefighters for all of the help on race day to make this another successful fundraising event!

MINOR CRASH AND A TREE DOWN Monday, June 16, 2008 - Today, the OFD handled two incidents. The first incident took place during the morning, when the department was dispatched along Rt. 61 for a minor MVA. Then later in the afternoon, the OFD was tapped out to assist the police department in removing a large tree from S. Liberty St.

LANDING ZONE AT BLUE MOUNTAIN HIGH SCHOOL Sunday, June 15, 2008 - Early Sunday afternoon, the OFD was dispatched to the Blue Mountain High School to establish a helicopter landing zone. The crew of Engine 56-10 took care of the LZ and 56-93 (Bonner) was the landing zone officer.

MVA - WITH CONFINEMENT ON SECOND MTN. ROAD Friday, June 13, 2008 - Shortly after 01:00 hrs the department was dispatched along Second Mtn. Rd for a reported MVA with unknown injuries. Asst. Chief 56-01 (Zimmerman) arrived on scene to find one car on its' side with one occupant still in the vehicle. Rescue 56 arrived and began vehicle stabilization and then continued with patient extrication by cutting both "B" and "C" posts and then using the spreader to move the roof. Once this was complete, EMS was able to immobilize and remove the patient.

CAR FIRE - DEER TRAIL DRIVE Thursday, June 12, 2008 - At 2:18 a.m. Company 56 was dispatched to a report of a vehicle fire on Deer Trail Drive in N. Manheim Twp. The engine compartment of the vehicle was fully involved when OFD units arrived. The fire was quickly extinguished with one handline from Engine 5610. There were no injuries. OFD cleared the scene in about one hour, after PSP concluded their investigation.