Fire Destroys Home in Berwyn

Station 2, Engine 3-5 (Paoli), and Ladder 15 (Radnor) were dispatched for a house fire at 2:55 a.m.

Lt. 2B (E. Brazunas) arrived on scene and reported a 2 1/2 story single family home engulfed in flames.

Engine 2-2 secured a water supply and quickly deployed hoselines to protect the neighbor's home that was beginning to catch on fire from the radiant heat. Additional hoselines were deployed to the house that was burning out of control.

The home where the fire started was unoccupied at the time of the fire, but the resident next door had to be quickly evacuated by Berwyn firefighters and the Tredyffrin Twp. Police.

Additional crews from Malvern Fire Co. and East Whiteland Fire Co. helped to extinguish the fire.

The total fire loss was valued at $920,000 from both properties. Due to the quick action of first arriving firefighters the house next door was able to be saved.

The Chester County Fire Marshal and PA State Police Fire Marshal investigated the fire and determined the cause to be a lighting strike.

There were no reported firefighter or civilian injuries. Final units cleared the scene at 10:23 a.m.

Thank you to Ladder 41 (Newtown Square), Engine 68-2 (Valley Forge) and Amb. 55-3 (West Chester) for the Berwyn fire standby.

Many thanks to the volunteers of North Penn Goodwill from Montgomery County (Station 41) for providing food and drinks and a much needed portable bathroom during the incident. Your quick response on a holiday weekend was much appreciated.

A total of 50 volunteers and 4 paid personnel responded to this fire.

This was the 1st of 10 calls on Memorial Day that the Berwyn Fire Co. responded to.

Incident Commander: Lt. 2B (E. Brazunas)
Operations Officer: Capt. 2 (B. Brazunas)
Safety Officer: FF #273 (D. Dougherty)
Water Supply Officer: Asst. 15 (J. Jimenez)
Personnel Staging Officer: Lt. 2A (J. Sadler)
EMS Rehab Officer: Medic 4-2 (K. Madden)