In January
the Fort Washington
Fire Company responded to:
57 Alarms
Averaging 18
responders per call
Totaling 477
responder hours
For All of 2007 the Fort
Washington Fire Company Responded to:
627 Alarms
Averaging 18 responders per call
Totaling 4662 responder hours
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Profile Of The Month
By
Andy Rathfon
Each month we profile one of
the many Volunteers that make up the Fort Washington
Fire Company. This month we are highlighting
Peter Williams
 Meet
Pete Williams
Born in July of 1969, Pete Williams is the youngest
of three children, having two older sisters. The
Williams family lived in Erdenheim, PA until 1979
when they relocated to Ludwell Drive in Maple Glen.
Pete attended Upper Dublin High School until
graduating in 1987. Following graduation, Williams
attended Delaware Valley College where he pursued a
bachelor of science in ornamental horticulture and a
small business management degree.
After graduation in 1991, Pete began working as an
arborist for Keystone Tree Experts. In 1994 Williams
took a position as the manager for a private estate
in Whitemarsh. Williams worked on the estate for
seven years until he took his current position as a
certified arborist and project manager with Brooks &
Barber Tree Management in 2001.
Pete, who met his wife in 1995, married Diana in
1999. They currently reside in the Maple Glen area
with their three year old daughter Anna. The
Williams are expecting a second child in March.
Williams joined the Fort Washington Fire Company
No.1 in 1986 as junior firefighter. Encouraged to
join by friends, Pete became very active in the
company. Williams served as the president of the
Active Workers Association and eventually as the
Vice President of the company. In 1997 Pete was
promoted to the rank of lieutenant, a position he
currently holds.
Pete’s first fire was one of the residences on the
Red Gate Farm on Dreshertown Road. This fire is
engraved in his mind because of his position on the
attack line and the water supply situation. The most
memorable fire of Pete’s career is either the fatal
Father’s Day fire on Maple Avenue or the Saint
Anthony’s Church fire. He especially cherishes his
memory of riding the back step of the since retired
1952 open cab “B” model Mack.
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This is one of a series of newsletters from the Fort
Washington Fire Company No.1 in an effort to keep
the citizens and taxpayers of Upper Dublin informed
about the many and varied activities carried out by
our organization. Anyone may opt out of receiving
these e-mailed newsletters by clicking on the
unsubscribe link at the bottom of this Newsletter.
In each newsletter we will endeavor to provide
information that is informative, useful and even
entertaining. |
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From
the Chief's Desk
By
Chief Robert Toner Jr.
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 I
want to thank you for visiting our web site and
subscribing to our newsletter. As you may know, the
Fort Washington Fire Company No. 1 is still a 100%
volunteer fire company.
2007 was an exciting year for
us. We were quite busy and accomplished many things.
Last year we responded to 637 calls and our members
participated in 48 drill nights at the firehouse and
more than 20 outside fire schools and seminars for a
total of over 6000 hours of training. Additionally,
our members are now nationally certified at the
operations level for hazardous material incidents.
2008 will be an even more
exciting and busy year. We are celebrating our 100th
anniversary on June 28, 2008. Further, we are in the
process of deciding on a site to build a new
firehouse. Our current station, located at 220
Summit Avenue in Fort Washington, was built in 1953.
Back then fire trucks were much smaller and the
incidents we responded to were much simpler. Now, 55
years later, we have outgrown this facility.
Building a new firehouse to serve the firefighters
and the community for the next 50 years is an
exciting task that will require much time and effort
by our people!
Continued
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Chimney Fires
By
Howard Schmuckler
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Chimney fires are serious! Temperatures in the
chimney during a chimney fire can reach over 2000
degrees Fahrenheit – hot enough to destroy the
chimney liner and possibly set the house on fire.
Chimneys and chimney connectors accounted for the
largest share (40%) of home heating fire incidents.
Failure to clean a chimney accounted for over half
(59%) of the confined chimney and chimney connector
fires. Most chimney fires are preventable.
Some chimney fires go unnoticed by the homeowner.
Others sound like a freight train, and can display
up to thirty foot flames shooting from the chimney
top. Either way, they are not good.
If you have a chimney fire, get everybody out of the
house, then call the fire department from outside
the house. After the fire department gives you
clearance to go back inside the house, close air
inlets and glass doors (if you have them) on
fireplaces. Have the chimney cleaned and inspected
by a chimney professional before you use it again.
Some people think a chimney fire is a good way to
clean the flue. They are wrong! Starting a chimney
fire deliberately is dangerous. You could burn your
house down. And even if the house survives, you
could cause thousands of dollars of damage to the
chimney lining, and create hidden fire damage.
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Calling in a prank alarm is very serious and very
dangerous. When someone calls 9-1-1 for help,
reporting that there is a fire, the fire department
is dispatched to respond. In the case of the Fort
Washington Fire Company, and any other volunteer
fire department, the firefighters have to respond to
the station in their personal vehicles, and then
respond to the address where the alleged emergency
is. In addition, police officers are also
dispatched to the location.
This is very serious as everyone who responds, while
responding as safely as possible, may become
involved in a traffic accident, or may even cause an
accident involving other vehicles. Each fire truck
can transport as many as eight firefighters, and
costs a minimum of several hundred thousand dollars
plus the costs of all of the valuable tools and
equipment that they carry. If the caller states
that a building is on fire, the response from the
Fort Washington Fire Company could be ten trucks.
You can calculate the number of firefighter lives,
as well as the lives of citizens that are at risk,
as well as the total value of the trucks and
equipment. The risk factor is quite high. And,
while the fire department and police are responding
to what they have to consider as a real fire, even
though it really is not; they are not available to
respond to any other emergency calls that might be
received, and those calls may be very serious. The
people who really need help have to wait longer for
other firefighters or police officers to get to
them, which may be life threatening to them.
Continued:
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