New Bling for The Cavalry

July 27th, 2008 • This evening, The 27th Cavalry received some new graphics, courtesy of Matt Carr and Whacker Grafix. All 3 rigs had the GAFC's motto placed on their windshields, in bold white. The rigs also had the GAFC's website link placed towards the rear on either side. The GAFC #1 would like to thank Matt Carr for dedicating his time and services and for creating some awesome-looking graphics. The GAFC #1 also recommends Whacker Grafix to handle any graphic design needs for your department in the future.

Photos of all the new decals

Engine 27: Comin' to a train yard near you!

June 6th, 2008 • After many weeks of work, Engine 27's new train horn showed its stuff today. At 4:07 P.M., Company 27 was dispatched to 313 East Market St. for a CO Detector activation. Engine 27 (Chief H. Welker) was enroute with 3 at 4:11 P.M. Lieutenant Schlegel, Head of The Train Horn Committee, proudly displayed his new toy as Engine 27 busted the square. Engine 27 arrived on scene to find a reading of 67 PPM in the basement, which was caused by a malfunctioning coal stoker. The Engine Crew performed reverse PPV to vent the home and returned available at 4:40 P.M.

Command: Chief 27 (H. Welker)

Units on scene: Engine 27

Station 27 Crew: Chief 27 (H. Welker), Captain 27 (T. Lesher), Lieutenant 27 (L. Schlegel, Jr.), Lieutenant 27-1 (Sitlinger), Engineer 27 (Wolfgang), Safety Officer 27 (Boyer), FF Conrad, JFF B. Welker, FF/EMT Robertucci, FP G. Fetterhoff & FP M. Lesher.

Engine 27 showin' off the new train horn

Room & Contents Off at Reed's Inn

May 17th, 2008 • At 10:10 P.M. tonight, Company 27, along with mutual aid, was dispatched to 543 East Market St., at Reed's Inn, for a commercial structure fire. Engine 27 (Chief Dreher) with 6, Tanker 27 (Eng. Wolfgang) with 2, Rescue 27 (SO Boyer) with 3, & Chief 27 were all enroute at 10:12 P.M. Chief 27 arrived on scene with The Cavalry, informed Dauphin County Comm Center of a heavy smoke condition, and established command. Engine 27 was positioned on Side Delta and hand jacked a 100' section of 5" LDH off the hose bed and hit the plug on Side Alpha. The Engine Crew pulled three attack lines; two 1 3/4" attack lines were advanced into the bar room area on Side Delta (main fire load area, which was unknown at the time) and a 3" attack line was advanced in through the double doors on Side Alpha into the dining room area. The attack crews made an excellent knock on the bar room, preventing the fire from extending into the dining room and the 2nd Division. Truck 22 arrived within minutes and immediately set-up vertical ventilation ops on Side Alpha & Delta, and later performed horizontal ventilation ops. Crews from Klingerstown, Berrysburg, Pillow, & Lykens all assisted Company 27 perform overhaul ops. The bar room area was gutted, but the rest of the building, on both Divisions, only suffered heat & smoke damage. Company 27 was finally placed available after cleaning & re-packing all equipment at 2:21 A.M.

The GAFC would like to thank the Liberty Hose Co. #2 of Lykens, the Berrysburg & Community Fire Co., the Klingerstown Fire Co. & the Pillow Fire Co. for their assistance and mutual aid.

Command: Chief 27 (H. Welker)

Units on scene: Engines 27, 26, & Northumberland 65; Tankers 27, 26, 28, & Northumberland 65; Truck 22; Rescues 27 & 28; Squad 26; Engine, Tanker & Squad 26 covered The 27 House after being released from the scene.

Station 27 Crew: Chief 27 (H. Welker), Chief 27-1 (R. Welker), Chief 27-2 (S. Dreher, Sr.), Captain 27 (T. Lesher), Lieutenant 27 (L. Schlegel), Lieutenant 27-1 (Sitlinger), Engineer 27 (Wolfgang), Engineer 27-1 (Smith), Safety Officer 27 (Boyer), FF Conrad, FF Davis, FF Lebo, FF Schreffler, JFF B. Welker, FF Hammaker, FF/EMT Robertucci, FF Diaz, FF C. Kauffman, FF B. Kauffman, FF R. King, FF Petersheim, FF G. Fisher, FF J.P. King, FF J.M. Fisher, FF Zeiset, FF J. Zook, FP Paul, FP M. Lesher, FP G. Fetterhoff, & FP J. Fetterhoff.

Photos & videos of this incident

House Hit By Lightening in Hebe

April 26th, 2008 • At 8:00 P.M. this evening, Company 27 was dispatched as mutual aid to Klingerstown on the 65-4 Box, Help # 18-805, for a possible structure fire. Engine 27 (FF Davis) with 6, Tanker 27 (Chief H. Welker) with 2 & Rescue 27 (Lt. Schlegel) with 3 were responding 4 minutes later. Company 27 arrived on scene to find a two-story single family home that had been struck by lightening. The small fire inside the home was extinguished by the homeowner prior to Company 65's arrival. Crews also extinguished a small mulch fire that was caused by the same lightening strike. Company 27 was placed available by Command 65 at appx. 8:30 PM.

Command: Chief 65 (B. Masser)

Units on scene: Engines 27, 28, Northumberland 64 & Northumberland 65; Tankers 27, 26, 28, Northumberland 65 & Northumberland 62; Rescues 27 & 28; Northumberland Attack 65

Station 27 Crew: Chief 27 (H. Welker), Captain 27 (T. Lesher), Lieutenant 27 (L. Schlegel), Lieutenant 27-1 (Sitlinger), Engineer 27-1 (Smith), Safety Officer 27 (Boyer), FF Davis, JFF B. Welker, FF B. Kauffman, FF R. King, FF Petersheim, FF J.P. King, FF J.M. Fisher, FF Schreffler, FF A. King & FP Paul.

Engine 27 bustin' the square

New Toys for The 27 House

March 29th, 2008 • Through the past 2 weeks, The 27 House has been placing new tools in service & receiving others. On March 17th, as The Crew was performing equipment & rig maintenance, a few others were mounting new Fire Hooks Unlimited Hooks on Engine 27. The 4' Trash Hook was mounted above the spare SCBA bottles. The 22" Firemaxx Tool was placed in between the rear doors of the cab. The 3' Drywall & Multi-Purpose Hooks were mounted below the rear seats in the cab. The 6' Drywall, Multi-Purpose, & Multi-Purpose/Boston Hooks were mounted on top of the cab.

On March 27th, Lieutenant Schlegel & FF C. Kauffman picked up The GAFC's 6 new Scott Air-Pak 75 SCBA. The new SCBA feature 2216 PSI carbon fiber cylinders, Dual EBSS (Buddy-Breathing) & AV-3000 masks. Crews will train on the new SCBA before placing all 6 on Engine 27.

Photos of the new Hooks mounted on Engine 27

3 Brush Piles Off in The 2nd District

March 25th, 2008 • At 7:10 P.M. this evening, Company 27 was dispatched on the 27-2 Box to 400 Hemlock Drive for a brush fire. Rescue 27 (Chief Dreher), out on a work detail, responded immediately with 4. Engine (Lt. Schlegel) & Tanker (Eng. Smith) 27 both responded 2 minutes later. Rescue 27 arrived on scene, which was the same location as the '07 Sawmill Fire, to find 3 seperate piles of brush on fire, the largest appx. 30' x 30'. Chief Dreher assumed command of the large pile and Captain Lesher, assuming command of the 2 smaller piles, requested the next Brush & two Tankers on the box to be dispatched, bringing Brush & Tanker 26 & Schuylkill Tanker 14-30. Tanker 14-30 was cancelled enroute. Engine 27 was positioned on the south side of the main pile and put the top-mount deluge gun in service & stretched a 1 3/4" attack line, as well did Rescue 27, positioned on the north side. Tankers 27 & 26 supplied Engine 27. Brush 26 handled the two smaller piles. Units were placed in service at 9:00 P.M.

Command: Chief 27-2 (S. Dreher, Sr.)

Units on scene: Engine 27, Tankers 27 & 26, Brush 26

Station 27 Crew: Chief 27 (H. Welker), Chief 27-2 (S. Dreher, Sr.), Captain 27 (T. Lesher), Lieutenant 27 (L. Schlegel), Engineer 27 (Wolfgang), Engineer 27-1 (Smith), Safety Officer 27 (Boyer), FF Conrad, FF Petersheim, FF A. King, JFF B. Welker, FF R. King, FF/EMT S. Schlegel, FF Zeiset, FF Lebo, JFF S. Dreher, Jr., FF B. Kauffman, FF D. Kauffman, FF/EMT Robertucci, FF J.M. Fisher, FF G. Fisher, FF B. Zook, FF J. Zook & FP Paul.

Photos & Video of this incident

Odor of Propane at The Fairgrounds

March 2nd, 2008 • At 7:57 P.M. this evening, Box 27-1 was struck for an odor investigation at the Gratz Fairgrounds. Chief & Engine 27 (SO Boyer) were both responding at 8:00 P.M., The Engine with 4. Chief & Engine 27 arrived on scene to find Lieutenant 27 (Schlegel), who had found a strong odor of propane coming from the food stand adjacent to The GAFC's food stand. Forcible entry was performed but no source was found inside the stand. A possible source may have been a 100 lb. propane cylinder directly behing the stand, which was closed but may have been tampered with. Company 27 was placed available at 8:30 P.M.

Command: Chief 27 (H. Welker)

Units on scene: Engine 27

Station 27 Crew: Chief 27 (H. Welker), Chief 27-1 (R. Welker), Captain 27 (T. Lesher), Lieutenant 27 (L. Schlegel, Jr.), Lieutenant 27-1 (Sitlinger), Engineer 27 (Wolfgang), Safety Officer 27 (Boyer), FF Lebo, FF Schreffler, FF/EMT Robertucci, JFF B. Welker, FF Hammaker, FF Conrad, FF J.M. Fisher & FP J. Fetterhoff.

Photos of this incident