News

On Thursday April 10th, 2003 at 0950 hrs, the Millville and Bethany Beach Vol. Fire Co.?s along with the Sussex County Paramedics were dispatched to a reported TRAILER FIRE on Georgia Drive in Plantation Park II, South of Ocean View. On arrival of the first responding unit, E84-2, Chief Scott reported a doublewide trailer with an attached porch that was well involved. A second alarm was struck re-alerting both Millville and Bethany Beach and also bringing Sta. 90, Roxana in as a RIT team. In addition, an automatic cover-up assignment was alerted for Dagsboro and Frankford to cover Millville and Ocean City 700 to cover Bethany Beach. E84-2?s three-man crew advanced a 1-3/4 hand line to the exterior and started to attack the porch and protecting exposures. Residents that were at home at the time of the fire were accounted for. Next arriving E70-3 pulled an additional 1-3/4 hand line and made an aggressive interior attack. EMS Captain Layton arrived on scene by POV and was able to initiate accountability. Tanker 84 arrived quickly and established a water supply for the units working due to the area being non-hydrated. Engineer Randy Powell handled the assignment of Water Supply officer. Bethany Beach Chief Parrett was assigned the Operations. Quint 70 and Truck 84 arrived shortly there after and the Quint was able to set up in the narrow driveway while their crew and the crew from Truck 84 provided overhaul operations. Due to the heavy volume of fire and limited manpower Chief Scott used Career FF/EMT Norman to join the firefighting crew while he stayed and operated E84-2. Upon Truck Captain Guy Rickards arriving on scene, Scott relinquished Command to Rickards while he continued to act as the operator of E84-2. Engine 84-1, 84-4 and 90-5 provided water shuttle operations. The crew from 90-5 had an assignment as the RIT and was staged at the command post. Career FF/EMT Brown and SCEMS Medic 105 provided rehab for the units working. The Cover-up assignment for Millville was being filled by E76-1 and E73-2. E76-1 was re-directed to the scene for manpower while E73-2 continued to Millville?s station. OC E16 provided the cover for Bethany Beach. The trailer was a total loss, with damages estimated at around $100,000.00. The Red Cross was contacted to assist the family with a shelter and clothing. The State Fire Marshal?s office is investigating the cause of the blaze. There were no injuries reported and units cleared the scene at 1157hrs. Units responding: E84-2, Truck 84, E84-1, E84-4, R84, Tanker 84, B84, E70-3, Quint 70, E90-5, E76-1, DSFM, SCEMS 105, DSFP, (Stand By) E73-2, OC E16.