Barn Fire Closes Route 41 Over Multiple Hours in London Grove

West Grove firefighters were dispatched for a reported barn fire at 4:25am Monday morning, an incident that closed a key roadway and lasted more than five hours.

Calls to the 911 Center reported a large barn fully involved along Gap Newport Pike (Route 41) north of the Route 1 Bypass. A 50 X 100 foot barn constructed of an arched metal frame with a canopy roof had heavy fire showing. West Grove and area mutual aid companies were dispatched. Engine 22-1 arrived laying in a large supply line and confirmed reports that the structure was heavily involved in fire. Chief 22 requested a tanker task force, established command and called for a working fire dispatch -- bringing additional units.

Arriving units began to attack the fire, with Ladder 25 setting up an elevated master stream. Out on Route 41, crews established two large portable water tanks to allow tankers to quickly unload water to supply the master stream and a variety of handlines over the next several hours. Multiple tankers were used to shuttle water - 3000 gallons in each truck -- to supply the fire scene as the barn was in a rural area away form fire hydrants. Tankers shuttled water from a fill site established by Engine 22-3 to the rear of the Lowes store -- in all, 56,000 gallons of water were flowed at the fire scene, with 16 tankers handled at the fill site.

Chief 22 also requested a fire police task force, knowing that fire operations along busy Route 41 would require the roadway to be closed above and below the fire scene for multiple hours. After a multi-hour road closure, Route 41 was opened to a single land of traffic flow at 7:15am.

Crews worked to suppress the fire, with heavy equipment used to move large amount of hay and debris aside so that firefighters could reach pockets of fire. The incident was declared under control at 6:14am, and the incident was scaled back just before 7:00am, with the last units working until just before 9:00am.

During the incident, Lancaster County Tanker 52 was requested to standby at Station 22. However, a second fire call was then dispatched off of Ellicott Road in New Garden Township for haybales, and Lancaster Tanker 52 handled that assignment along with an ambulance from 22 and numerous engines from New Castle County (as so many units were at the scene in London Grove Township). The Ellicott Road call was dispatched at 5:10am and was cleared up in about an hour.