State troopers from Avondale called upon the West Grove Fire Company last evening for support in helping to locate a missing teenager in Franklin Township.

The WGFC was originally requested to assist the PA State Police by providing access to the fire company’s thermal imaging cameras (TICs). These devices are used by firefighters to find people quickly by showing the heat signature of victims hidden by smoke. The TICs are helpful to find the source of fire as well. For a search, TICs can help in the dark find a hidden person.

Coordinating the WGFC effort was EMS Manager Gary Vinnacome on Ambulance 22-1. After meeting with the State Police, Gary had the WGFC dispatched to assist with the search at approximately 1130pm. Units from all three stations responded to the incident command location at North Creek Road and Route 841 in Franklin Township.

The WGFC command also requested the support of COMM1, Chester County’s mobile emergency radio truck, as well as the County’s Incident Support Team. Both of these resources help incident commanders by providing logistics support to free up fire service leaders to focus on search-related tasks.

Crews from the WGFC and State Police did an extensive search in the area around the intersection, working in wet, wooded, hilly and very cold conditions for approximately 2.5 hours. Ultimately, the teenager was located safe in Avondale borough and the fire company search operation was ended.