| Towards the end of the business day on Tuesday the Department was dispatched to KIM Manufacturing, 152 Wallace Avenue at 15:42hrs for an appliance fire. It was reported that an air compressor was on fire with no immediate exposures and that the building is not being evacuated. Chief 46 arrived on the scene confirming that the air compressor fire was extinguished by the occupants of the business. Engine 46-1 arrived on the scene at 15:51hrs commanded by Fire Fighter Harvel Brown, orders were to check for utility control to the equipment and verify fire extinguishment. Building occupants had everything under control, although they followed procedure and called 911 just in case they could not handle the situation internally. Due to the halfway decent weather the building was left open for natural ventilation and the Department was cleared.
Later that same evening the Department was dispatched to Wegman's Food Market, 1056 East Lancaster Avenue at 18:14hrs for another appliance fire. This time the fire was reported as a deli cooler; fire was contained to the unit and was extinguished by staff. Engine 46-2 arrived onscene at 18:22hrs with Assistant 46 (Stephen Miller) assuming Wegmans Command. Upon arrival the store was completely evacuated. Captain 45 (Phil Moore) assumed Interior Operations, taking crews from Engine 46-2 and Tower 45 proceeding to the deli area to again check for any fire extensions and utility control. No fire department services were needed other than a local Fire Marshal and Health Department notification due to damaged food products. Management and maintenance staff were already on top of all safety concerns. Wegman's employees and patrons were quickly allowed to continue with an otherwise uneventful evening. It must be said that Wegman's staff did a fantastic job of evacuating the entire building in such a short amount of time.
Both events go to show that proper fire prevention, inspection and general fire extinguisher training from trained professionals pay off in the long run. Fire prevention, inspection and training are the best line of defense for business owners to help protect investments and customers. But we as the fire department cannot stress enough that for any fire emergency #1, call 911 immediately incase the situation escalates out of your control, #2 evacuate the building regardless of the size of the original fire and last, by all means do not attempt to extinguish a fire that is outside of the capability of a normal, public fire extinguisher or its user. |
