At 4:22 this afternoon Witmer (4-10) was dispatched to Creek Hill RD and Willow RD for a field fire, Chief 4-10 arrived on scene and found approximately 2 1/2 acres on fire. Engine 4-10-1 arrived soon afterwards and started fire attack, Tanker 4-10 supplied Engine 4-10-1 with additonal water, and Engine 4-10-2 did fire attack on the far side of the field. We were assisted by Tanker 4-1 and Engine 2-4-1.

At 2:30 this afternoon Witmer (4-10), Lafayette (6-3), Bird-In-Hand (4-1) and Eden (2-4) were dispatched to a reported building fire. Deputy 4-10 was the first to arrive and found a 40 yard dumpster on fire against the building. Crews from Engine 6-3-3 and Engine 4-10-2 handled the fire attack and prevented the fire from spreading into the building. 

The Witmer Fire Company would like to thank the community for helping with the ox roast corn. Approximately 700 dozen ears of corn were husked and cooked with your help. Thank you

At 7:05 am on Saturday July 31, the first-alarm assignment was dispatched to 458 Mount Sidney Road for a reported dwelling fire. The assignment consisted of Engines 4-10-2 and 4-10-1 (Witmer), Engine 4-1-1 and Tanker 4-1 (Bird-in-Hand), Truck 6-3 (Lafayette), Rescue 4-8 (Ronks), Tanker 5-10 (Strasburg) and Medic 6-12-8 (LEMSA).   Chief 4-10 (Latschar) arrived on scene and determined that there was fire located above a ceiling light fixture in the kitchen. With this report, Command 4-10 (Deputy Chief Bono) requested an additional engine and 3 tankers for water supply operations.  Engine 4-10-2 was first to arrive and stretched 2 attack lines into the structure. Truck 6-3 assisted with opening up the ceiling and ventilation. Engine 4-10-1 laid a supply line to Engine 2. Rescue 4-8 had the RIT assignment.   Tanker 4-1 set up for water supply on Mount Sidney Road, although the supply line was determined to not be needed.  The fire was contained to the area directly above the light fixture, although the fire had completely burned through a 2x4 truss. There were no injuries. Units on scene included Engine 4-10-2, Engine 4-10-1, Engine 4-1-1, Engine 6-3-1, Truck 6-3, Rescue 4-8, Tanker 4-10, Tanker 4-1, Tanker 5-10, Tanker 4-3, Tanker 4-4, Squad 4-1-1 and Medic 6-12-8. All units cleared the scene after approximately 1 ½ hours.

Command – Deputy 4-10 (Bono)
Operations – Chief 4-10 (Latschar)

This morning E-4-10-1 (Witmer) Rescue 4-8 (Ronks) and Co. 2-4 (Eden) were dispatched to 2030 New Holland Pike for a vehicle down an embankment. We arrived and found a ford ranger down a 40 to 50 foot embankment in the Conastoga River.

This Tuesday evening we had our bi-weekly JR training at the LCPSTC training center. Companies involved were (2-3) East Petersburg (2-7) Neffsville (6-3) Lafayette (8-4) Susquehanna and (4-10) Witmer. Today we did a road rally. The first station was water supply where they connected to a hydrant and flowed 2 attack lines for 5 minutes. The second station consisted of raising an extension ladder and hoisting tools onto the roof. The last station was doing a search in a smoke maze and ventilating the building.

Around 3:30 this afternoon 4-10 (Witmer), Rescue 4-8 (Ronks), and EMS were dispatched to Rt. 340 and Mount Sidney Rd, Chief 4-8 was first on scene and confirmed entrapment, Engine 4-10-1 and Rescue 4-8 arrived soon afterwards. Squad 4-1-2 assisted Squad 4-10 with traffic control. Units were on scene for about 3 hours.

This past Monday night, the members headed over to the pond on Jefferson Drive in the Greenfield Industrial Park for a training class on the proper set up and operation of a tanker fill site. Deputy Chief Matt Bono led the class, which consisted of the proper methods to accomplish the following:

 
Set up an engine to draft from a static water source
Hydrant connections for maximum water flow
Layout and operation of the tanker fill lines
 
In Lancaster County, the standard for tanker fill-sites is to utilize two 2.50” or 3.00” hoses with 3.00” Stortz couplings to fill a tanker.   Witmer’s standard operating procedures for tanker operations require that a fill site engine fill tankers at a rate of at least 1,000 gpm.    The members practiced hooking up the 6.00” hard suction hoses and float dock strainers and also took turns operating the tanker fill manifold and handling the 3.00” tanker fill lines. In our opinion, a successful fill site requires approximately 7 firefighters to operate efficiently: a fill site officer, pump operator, manifold operator and four firefighters to man the tanker fill lines. It is also extremely important that only one tanker is filled at a time. It will not benefit the fire scene to have two half-full tankers at a fill site versus having one tanker filled and heading back to the fire scene before filling the second.
 
Witmer constantly trains on various water supply operation and procedures and are always glad to share our knowledge with other companies. We are also interested in hearing about what procedures and operations work well for other companies, with the hope of continuing to improve our water delivery skills.

Training night was to locate and rescue a person from a storm drain 800' under ground. Took crews about an hour to locate a worker from a storm drain after using the GPS on his phone to track him down.

Zone 4 competition at the Bird-In-Hand Restaurant,  Bird-In-Hand 4-1, Gap 4-2, Gordonville 4-3, Intercourse 4-4, Kinzer 4-5, Paradise 4-7, Ronks 4-8, White Horse 4-9, Witmer 4-10, Lafayette 6-3.

It is official - Tanker 4-10-2 was officially retired from service as of 07:00 hours on April 17, 2010.  Tanker 4-10-2 served the Witmer community for over 21 years and provided our community with excellent fire protection.

Several members met on 4/17/2010 to remove all the loose equipment from the unit.  It will be leaving sometime in the next week to be delivered to Command Fire Apparatus in Landisville.  After some miscellanous work is done by Command Fire, Tanker 4-10-2 will be heading to Payneville, KY to begin its second career.

Farewell, Tanker 4-10-2

We appreciate your service and we thank you!!