Update on PA firehouse fire. New pictures, links and donation information.
Engine 267, a 1986 Hahn, is the lone survivor of the fire early Monday morning. It was saved by a member who drove it through a bay door and put the pumper to work. This picture is from Coal Region Fire, where you can see more pictures and videos of the fire. Other pictures can be found here.
Chief Fred Meusel of the Forestville Citizens Fire Company said it appears that radio chargers or flashlight chargers were the source of an electrical fire that destroyed the fire house and much of its equipment.
Here is information on making donations to the Schuylkill County, PA fire company:
A special fire fund will be set up at the
First National Bank of Minersville
C/o Forestville Fire Company Fire Loss Fund
260 Sunbury St.
Minersville, PA 17954
570-544-4726
For Donations of Gear or Equipment
Please contact the Fire Chief Fred Meusel 570-691-6694
or John Pritz 570-544-2659
Below are photos from the Forestville Citizens Fire Company website of two of the rigs lost in the fire:
Here are excerpts from an article by Peter E. Bortner at RepublicanHerald.com:
They have two things on which to build hope for the future, he continued, including the social hall, which survived, and the surviving engine, which was their newest, a 1986 Hahn pumper that company member Elvin Brennan saved by driving it through a closed garage door as the fire burned.
“As soon as I got it out, the whole place went up,” Brennan said.
Brennan said he arrived about 12:30 a.m. after his son, Elvin Brennan III, saw the fire while on his way home.
“It was in the corner at the time I got there,” the elder Brennan said. “It wasn’t really that bad. I didn’t think it was going to burn. I wanted to get our hose one out.”
He did not have the chance to do so, however, and it was lost, along with two other engines, including the pride of the company, a 1931 Hahn.
“It was in A-1 condition. It was beautiful,” said Nick Brilla, a member of the company for 50 years. “We had the flood of ’72. It pumped for five days straight.”
The company remains intact, however. Meusel said South Cass Township Fire Company, Primrose, has donated gear to allow the members to continue their work, and Doli Construction Co. has allowed the company to park the remaining engine in a garage next to the company property.
Coincidentally, Meusel said, the same engine had been parked in the same garage, then known as Demcher’s Garage, while the firehouse was being built.
