- Medford Farms Vol Fire Co.

66 Egbert Street

 On January 13, 2010 at 02:29 hours Task Force 191 (Station 191, Ladder 181, Engine 182, Engine 183, Tender 184), Ladder 682, Rescue Engine 171, Tender 211 and EMS 199 were dispatched to 66 Egbert Street in Pemberton Borough for a dwelling fire.

Chief 1900 arrived to find heavy smoke showing from both sides of a 2 ½ story duplex with balloon construction.  Moments later Chief 1900 reported a working basement fire and requested All Companies placed in-service.  Chief 1900 also advised that there was natural gas venting from the basement of the fire building.

RE-1911 arrived and stretched a 1 ¾” to the kitchen where the occupants advised the basement stairs were located.  Shortly after making entry RE-1911 advised that the floor was spongy on the first floor of the fire building.  Once in the kitchen RE-1911’s crew reported they were having trouble locating the basement stairs due to cluttered conditions.  Fire was now venting from a basement window on the “B” side of the fire building.

 L-1815 arrived and laid a 5” supply to RE-1911.  L-1815’s layout man was reporting he had a frozen hydrant.  Tender 2116 and T-1826 were arriving and picked up the supply line.

 L-6825 arrived and stretched a second 1 ¾” to proceed to the upper floors to check for extension.  As L-6825’s crew was making entry, RE-1911’s back-up man was reporting they now had fire through the floor.  Moments later the front room of the first floor flashed over.  All personnel were pulled from the building and a P.A.R.S was conducted.  The fire on the first floor was quickly knocked down.  Once all personnel were accounted for RE-1911’s crew entered the second floor of the fire building via portable ladders to check for extension.  At the same time L-6825’s crew took a third 1 ¾” to the basement of the exposure.  L-6825’s officer reported they were in the basement but they were not making any progress and the fire was traveling up the interior wall that separated the two units.  A short time later RE-1911’s crew reported some type of collapse on the second floor of the fire building at which time all personnel were pulled from the building and companies went into a defensive mode.

 L-3915 arrived and laid a second 5” supply line from a working hydrant to L-6825. A second working hydrant was found and crews hand stretched 5” from the hydrant to RE-1911 alleviating the Tender operations.  Crews operated numerous handlines, master streams and a ladder pipe until the fire eventually burned through the roof of both units and the original fire building ultimately collapsing.

 PSE&G arrived and had difficulty terminating the gas to the residence since the meter was located in the basement and the ground covered in snow and ice.

Tenders also experienced a frozen hydrant at the refill point.

 191, L-6825, L-1815, E-1831, L-3915, L-4314 and E-2721 operated on the fireground.

 RE-1712 and R-1319 were the RIC companies.

 T-2116, T-1826, T-1847, T-3811 and T-2137 were the tenders that operated.

 U-3418 was the cascade.

 BLS 1891, BLS 5091, BLS 1861, Rehab 4399 and Cherry Hill Canteen provided Rehab and EMS.

 Q-3614, TL-9035, E-4013, E-2621, E-3012, U-3038 and R-1019, C-3620 were the Covers.

 Chief 1900 had Command, Chief 1800 ran the CP, Chief 1710 was assigned Division A and B, Chief O/C 3910 was assigned Division C and D.  Chief 1810 was assigned Interior.  Chief 4300 was Safety.  Chief 1300 assisted at the CP and Chief 3800 had Water Supply.

 Companies were released as their assignments were complete.  RE-1911 remained on location hitting hot spots and assisting with the investigation until 16:00 hours.

Fire District Budget Reductions

On March 22, the Central Record posted a letter by Chief John Welling in response to the Tabernacle Township Committee's reductions to the Tabernacle Fire District Budget.  Below is a link to the article: 

http://www.southjerseylocalnews.com/articles/2011/03/22/opinion/doc4d878e6a20658871149436.txt

On Monday, March 14th the Tabernacle Township Committee approved serveral reductions to the Tabernacle Fire District Budget.  Below are the comments made by Chief John Welling at the Township Meeting:

Good evening, I am John Welling, Fire Chief, Medford Farms Fire Company. I am a certified fire officer as recognized by the international association of fire accreditations and have proudly served as your fire chief for the past 6 years.  I know that these are very difficult financial times for our residents and our firefighters.  We understand the difficult process when our residents do not support our budget and are thankful for the time the council and our commissioners have put in to insure there is minimal impact to the fire company operations.  Most of the line items that were impacted we can manage through; however, the line item for new equipment was cut from $15,000 to $5,000.  This line item has remained $15,000 for more than 10 years even though our equipment costs continue to escalate and has been fully spent every year.  As the fire chief, I am responsible to ensure the budget supports the procurement of training and the fire equipment necessary to ensure public and fire fighter safety, and as such, I would like to request the line item be set to its historic level of $15,000.

I believe the budget for new equipment is being reduced due to a purchase of hydraulic tools completed in January.  These tools were in the purchasing process for over 8 months after having attended several national training conferences.  The actual cost of the tools was $7600 and balance of the purchase was miscellaneous support equipment.  We purchased used reconditioned high quality tools which resulted in a cost savings of nearly $13,000 if purchased as new.  As I indicated earlier, I am sworn to protect our residents and most importantly our most vital asset, our 100% all volunteer firefighter staff.  This purchase was critical to provide the necessary tools for rapid intervention to save trapped firefighters as well as have a back up set of tools for when the township owned rescue truck is out of service for repair or for other reasons such as was the case last year for two weeks in November. 

Our plans for the $15,000 this year are to purchase two multi-gas meters for carbon monoxide and other haz mat events ($2800), an Ajax tool ($1800), an ice rescue sled to compliment the cold water suits we purchased last year ($1500) and a gator for accessing the deep woods as we presented to you in August in our capital plan ($10,000) and replace broken or damaged equipment as needed.  Additionally in the next 12-24 months we will have to replace our portable radios to comply with the new county radio system.  Our estimated cost for portables alone will be approximately $162,000.

Each year this line item is used to purchase vital equipment to maintain our mission and protect the lives of our firefighters and deliver our product to our residents and it is my responsibility to prioritize these expenditures. 

Last year our firefighters volunteered over 16,000 man-hours in support of our residents and we average 17 firefighters per call.  There are few if any all volunteer fire companies that average this high participation and who arrive on scene in less than 7 minutes as we do.  This high participation rate is one of our greatest strengths as an organization and continues as a result of the dedication of our 100% volunteer organization and the many spouses, children and significant others that provide support and inspiration to each of our members.  In comparison, the annual cost of a career fire department based on our response records would be approximately $2.5 million annually.  We as a community must fully support our volunteers.

As an organization we are deeply concerned over the recent lack of public support for our budget considering the tremendous benefits we have provided to our community including the ISO improvement and grants of over $400,000; all done by volunteers.  We were told that we could never achieve an ISO rating change of such magnitude without having hydrants and we proved the nay sayers wrong.  Our fire company is in the top 15% in America and we have been able to accomplish this through many hours of hard work and well managed funding.  Others tonight, may state that the cuts are not enough; however, i strongly feel that some of the identified cuts will have a long term negative impact on our community. 

I know that my time is limited tonight and I value everyone’s personal time, therefore the fire company has planned an open forum for our residents scheduled for March 23^rd at 7:30pm at our fire station where myself, our firefighters and some of our commissioners will be available to discuss any and all aspects of our operations.  I also have copies of our annual report available tonight for your reference. 

I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening and as always I am deeply indebted to our 44 active volunteers who risk their lives every day to protect you, the residents of tabernacle and the surrounding communities.

Fire chiefs are competing with other public agencies for funding.  Most residents never need to call the fire service but when they do, the service is priceless.

2010 Annual Report

2010 was a busy year in the history of our company and an exciting and rewarding year for the officers and members of the Medford Farms Fire Company. Click below to see the 2010 Annual Report.

2010 Annual Report

Baptist Road dwelling fire

December 17, 2010 at 0926 hours, TF2912, E184, Q431 and RIT 191 were dispatched to 6 Baptist Road, Woodland for a reported dwelling fire. 2900 (Plaugge) signed on and in the area reported a large column and requested the all hands. Upon arrival 2900 reported a single story ranch fully involved. E2923 arrived and placed a 2 1/2" attack in service. Q4314 arrived and set up ladder pipe operations. Q4314 knocked down the bulk of the fire and crews then placed multiple hand lines in service and remained on scene for several hours with overhaul operations. Additional companies assisting on scene were Medford, Medford Lakes, Shamong, Hampton Lakes, Vincent and Pemberton. Tabernacle and Woodland EMS provided Rehab services. The fire remains under investigation by the Burlington County Fire Marshalls Office, NJ Division of Fire Safety and the NJ State Police.

Millchase Road dwelling fire 

December 16th, 2010 at 0926 hours TF1722, E292, Q431, T431 and Rit 191 were dispatched to the area of 12 Burrs Mill Road, Southampton, Burlington County for a reported dwelling. C4300 (Welling) signed enroute and was advised that the caller was reporting a revised location of 5 Millchase Road. 4300 reported a large column 1 mile out and requested all companies be placed in service. Upon arrival 4300 had a 2 1/2 story single with heavy fire Division 2 rear and requested the 2nd alarm. 4300 conducted a primary search removing 1 victim from the 2nd floor stairway and requested a medic unit for burns and smoke inhalation. The victim was eventually transported to Virtua Mt Holly and then flown to Temple University Burn Center. 1st arriving E1723 (Young) led off with a 2 1/2" attack line to the rear and a 1 3/4" attack line to Division 2. Q4314 (Zebrowski) arrived and set up ladder pipe operations and additional 1 3/4" attack line. T4316 (Rubin) nurse tender supplied E7123 and Q4314. T1716, T1726, T2816 and T2514 assisted water supply RIT company 191 (Haines) was assigned interior operations to assist crews with the aggressive attack. Q2514 (Dovi) was assigned RIT and 2900 (Plaugge and 4305 (Freeman) were assigned safety. 1800 (Augustoni) ran the command post. 2nd alarm companies Medford, Westampton, Medford Lakes, Lumberton, Country Lakes assisted with the firefight and extensive overhaul. Tabernacle and Medford EMS provided rehab services. The fire remains under investigation by the Burlington County Fire Marshalls Office, NJ Division of Fire Safety and the NJ State Police.

February 2, 2011: We are in the process of upgrading our website... New content and updates will be available in the coming weeks.