The annual Strawberry Festival in Coatesville is back. This year it will be benefitting the Thorndale Volunteer Fire Company. Station 38 had contacted the West Grove Fire Company with a request to provide an Engine/Rescue crew to standby in their station and cover their first due, while their members made their presence at the Strawberry Festival.

Just one hour before the crew was scheduled to leave for Station 38, Station 22 was alerted to assist Station 23 (Avondale) for a building fire. Within minutes Rescue 22 responded as well as Engine 22-2. While Engine 22-2 was pulling out of the station, Station 22 was dispatched for a second emergency, a car accident. Rescue 22 continued to respond to the building fire while Engine 22-2 responded to the accident. Surely enough, our personnel scheduled for the standby to cover Station 38 returned.

The standby crew met at Station 22 (West Grove Borough) and staffed Engine 22-1. Crews made it to Station 38 a little before 1800 hours. While standing by, the crews discussed their response plans, should anything come through, and ate dinner provided by Thorndale Fire Company. The crew was responsible for Station 38's first due response area until a little after 2300 hours. It's was a quiet night in Thorndale, as Engine 22-1 did not receive any calls.

Special thanks to Thorndale for providing us with a meal and allowing us to staff your station!

Engine 22-1 Crew:

Driver: Lary Hicks, Chief Engineer
Officer: Norman Forde, Second Captain
Crew: Matthew Imming, Firefighter/EMT
Crew: Josh Talley, Firefighter
Crew: Anthony Pontillo, Firefighter
Crew: Matt Carroll, Firefighter