Over the past few weeks, TVFD members have been preparing for the upcoming nice weather and the woods/brush fire that come with it. Driver trainees have put in a lot of hours learning the brush trucks, tool location, hose loads and off road water supply options. Today we completed the hands on portion of the training with a full scale drill on a local property with unusual terrain. The day started out cutting multiple fire lines, and learning more of the uses of tools, along with teaching the newer members. Crews then ate lunch and got ready for an emergency response drill. With the help of a smoke machine and drain pipe, crews responded to smoke coming out of a wooded area and deployed hand lines, hand tools and ATV 69 to contain the “fire” and overhaul the area. Some of the tactics used were: advanced line setups (reducing larger supply lines into multiple smaller attack lines), tools only fire lines, and fire breaks set about 15-20 feet outside of the burnt area. In all, there was almost 1000 feet of hose used along with all the hand tools. After the drill, all the apparatus, along with hose, gear, and tools, were cleaned and inspected and returned into service. Our sincere thanks to the property owner for use of his property, and to the members who dedicated over 10 hours today to training and cleaning.
During the training, Engine 69-5 (along with Chief 69) responded to a fire alarm in Elverson Boro.
Brush 69-1 and Engine 69-5 were staged at the training area ready to respond if any emergencies occurred.