On April 6 shortly after 5a.m. Mt. Penn was dispatched along with Lower Alsace (Co4), Exeter (Co25), Birdsboro(Co7), Reading City and Oley (Co5) for a reported structure fire in the 1900 block of Woodvale Ave. As crews were responding Deputy 4-1(Mountz) arrived and reported a working fire with fire through the roof of 1951 Woodvale. All occupants were reported out of the building and accounted for by Central Berks Regional Police. Chief 1(Waldman) arrived shortly after and assumed command. Crews encountered heavy fire in the second and third floor areas as they advanced hose lines into position and also found that the fire had extended to the rear of 1953 Woodvale Ave. Command struck a second alarm at 5:42am for additional manpower due to the building construction and limited manpower available as many of the volunteers were already headed to their regular jobs. The interior walls were tongue and groove construction which made opening them up with hand tools to locate the fire difficult. Extensive use was made of power saws to accomplish this task. The third alarm was struck just before 6:30a.m. to bring fresh personnel to the scene in order to continue working on overhaul and extinguishing the remaining fire. The incident was placed under control just after 7a.m. Crews remained on scene until after 9a.m. In addition to the initial companies it took firefighters from Gibralter(Co23), Wyomissing(Co79), West Reading(Co64), Muhlenberg(Co’s 10 & 11), Alsace Manor(Co8), Amity(Co’s 49 & 6), Laureldale(Co13), Spring Twp(Co85), Shillington(Co36), Cumru(Co42), Kenhorst(Co69) and Mohnton(Co57). This fire remains under investigation as to the exact cause but is believed to be accidental. Thank you to all of our mutual aid companies for their assistance!
Mike Vogt photo
Mike Vogt photo
Mike Vogt photo
Mike Vogt photo
