| First responders from the West Grove and Avondale fire companies trained together Monday evening on a core firefighting skill -- hose line advancement.
The tactical deployment, management and advancement of handlines by firefighters to suppress structural fires is a bread-and-butter tactic of the fire service and core to the mission. Moving handlines in multi-story structures raises a number of issues about how to advance and manage the lines up stairwells and across multiple floors. Crews practice key skills to get handlines onto higher floors as well as hands-on application of fire standpipes and operating in stair wells.
The Chester County Public Safety Training Campus offers an ideal location for this training, as its multi-story tower provides real-world stairwell, standpipe and five-story conditions for training by firefighters. Crews from Stations 22 and 23 co-mingled and advanced across various scenarios over the two-hour session.
While the two companies have always trained and responded together throughout their history, these sessions are taking on new meaning as the West Grove and Avondale fire companies are merging together to form Southern Chester County Fire Rescue, a new organization expected to operate beginning January 1, 2027. For more information on SCCFR, see the link below. |
