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Monday at 2201 hours a box alarm was transmitted for a structure fire at 309 Hollenbach Street. Responding were Engines 11, 8(3), 9, and 1(Safety)along with Ladder 1 and Tower 1, along with Cars 4 and 9.
On arrival, E-11 reported nothing showing but upon investigation dense smoke was pushing from the first floor floating away from the firefighters. A working fire was declared and the members went to work.
Entry was made in the front of the building and the attack line was advanced to the rear of the first floor to extinguish the fire in the ceiling area in the kitchen.
The building was searched (negative)and vented. The fire was extending to the area above the kitchen ceiling. The roof over the kitchen was opened while the ceiling was pulled inside. some minor pockets of fire were extinguished. The ceiling in the first floor middle room was opened to ensure that there was no extension to that room. The fire was placed under control at 2222 hours.
Firefighters began to overhaul the room of fire. The exposures were checked for smoke and no power ventilation was needed. 311 Hollenbach was a vacant and unsecured structure (be aware). UGI and Met-Ed responded in a timely manner and secured utilities to the fire building.
As companies began to take up the lines and tools, the Fire Marshal was contacted to respond to investigate the cause and origin of the fire.
On the initial response it was believed that the building was vacant. Nobody was present and no one who resided there came forward to inform us of of the problem. This caused the fire to appear to be suspicious. It was later determined that the house was occupied by 7 people three of whom were children. The Red Cross was contacted to provide housing for the occupants.
Upon investigation it was determined that the fire began when a pan of grease caught fire in the kitchen and was thrown or dropped against the wall. This fire then climbed the wall and burned into the ceiling area. It also appeared that the occupants may have tried to extinguish the fire prior to calling the fire department.
The recipe for this cooking fire incident is a very common one for firefighters: unattended cooking compounded by inappropriate extinguishment followed by a delayed alarm equals fire and smoke damage beyond what was necessary plus 7 displaced people.
One other note, early on Met-Ed reported to the fire dispatcher that the structure did not have electric power. This proved to be incorrect as lights were on in the house on arrival and the electric meter was turning during the fire. A lesson reinforced is to always check the utilities to be certain that they are indeed not operating.
One positive for this incident was that all members worked safely as there were no injuries
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