The West Grove Fire Company and surrounding fire companies worked long into the night at a fully-involved house fire in London Britain Township, early on the morning of Saturday, September 26.

Dispatched just before 1:00am, the WGFC was called for a house on fire at 1605 Flint Hill Road, at the intersection of Indiantown Road. Chester County 911 dispatchers reported to Chief 22 on his response that the house fire was "working," with State Police on location. Chief 22 upgraded the alarm and requested additional water tankers. Responding WGFC volunteers passing by the house on the way to Station 32 confirmed the working fire report - fully involved house and garage, at a property known to be abandoned.

Engine 32 responded from their quarters, located just 1/4 mile from the fire scene. On arrival, Engine 32 laid a large supply line from the intersection with Indiantown Road into the fire scene. The crew deployed a 1-3/4 attack line to the fully involved structure, and secured the supply line for next-to-arrive fire trucks. Thanks to the PA State Police on scene who assisted with securing the supply line to the side of Flint Hill Road and deploying lines at the scene.

Chief 22 arrived and established Flint Hill Command. Next to arrive was Engine 12 who picked up the five inch line at the intersection to supply E32. Ladder 22 arrived on Flint Hill Road and began to deploy its ladder as an elevated master stream. Engine 23-1 also arrived and supplied crew and water to Engine 32. Tanker 23 and Engine 12 began setting up a water shuttle operation with a portable drafting tank, and then using Tanker 21 from Oxford as a nurse tanker.

Crews from Engine 12 deployed a second hand line, and then crews from various companies also deployed a larger-diameter blitz line. Crews from Engine 21-2 also assisted as they arrived alongside Ladder 21. With a water supply set, crews operated two hand lines, the blitz line and the elevated master stream. Fire fighting was complicated due to heavy overgrowth of trees and bushes around the scene, with a chain saw utilized to gain easier access through the brush back to the B/C and C/D corners at the rear of the fire building.

Due to the extensive volume of fire and the suspected "abandoned" status of the structure, the fire fighting efforts were all from the exterior and defensive in nature. Assistant 22 had Operations, Deputy 21 had manpower, and Captain 12 had water supply operations.

During the fire operations, Ladder 21 was moved forward into position to leverage it's long reach to deliver an elevated master stream into all of the corners of the fire structure. After that operation, crews on the ground spend more than 2 hours finding and extinguishing small pockets of fire in the fully collapsed structure, as well as various vehicles and other items burning in and around the garage.

Due to the rural location, all water for the fire scene had to be supplied through water tankers. The shuttle operation included tankers from the Avondale, Union Fire Company of Oxford, Hockessin, Longwood, Kennett, and Elkton fire companies. Water was hauled from the nearest fire hydrant at the Wheatland Farms development off of Route 896 in New London Township, a nearly 6-mile round trip. Overall, the fire operation used approximately 71,000 gallons of water.

The last units cleared the scene at just before 6:00am, with crews working until close to 730 am putting trucks back in service and cleaning hose and trucks.

The fire is under investigation by the State Police and Chester County Fire Marshal's. There were no injuries.

Thanks to the London Britain Township Roadmaster for bringing a backhoe to the scene to knock down the house walls and chimney to solve a safety concern. Thanks to Todd Mazur for taking many of the photos.