At just before noon on Sunday, July 31, 2011, Cherry Hill Firefighters and EMTS were dispatched to a reported condominium fire on Meerbrook Court in the Woods II development off Evesham Road.
Dispatchers advised incoming units they were receiving several calls reporting a working fire. As first arriving firefighters arrived (within 5 minutes of their dispatch), they reported a fast moving fire in the rear of the end units, on the first floor. The fire was spreading rapidly to the second floor and adjacent units. Crews met with residents evacuating the eight-unit building and all occupants were accounted for and outside the fire building. Fire crews initiated an aggressive interior attack with hand lines on the first floor, extinguished the fire on the first floor and proceeded to the second floor. Firefighters continued that effort until it was clear to the incident commander that the fire had advanced across the second floor units and attic space, well in front of the interior crews, reaching the other end of the eight unit building.
For their safety, all firefighters were evacuated from the building and the strategy switched to a defensive attack in an effort to stop the spread of fire. All Cherry Hill fire units were assigned and brought to the scene. Several large master streams and aerial ladder streams were placed in service. Due to the large amount of fire and the high heat index, a second alarm was transmitted to bring in additional firefighters.The defensive strategy worked and the bulk of the fire was knocked down quickly. After that, firefighters returned to the interior attack and cleared out any remaining hot spots and checked for fire extension. Ultimately, this fire was placed under control in just over 30 minutes from the arrival of firefighters.
During the firefight, two Cherry Hill firefighters were injured. One firefighter suffered from heat related symptoms and was transported to the emergency department at Virtua, Voorhees. He has been treated and released. The second firefighter suffered severe smoke inhalation and was originally transported to the emergency department at Cooper Hospital where he was stabilized. Since, he has been transported to the burn unit at Temple Hospital as a precaution, and is currently reported to be in stable condition. This incident is currently under investigation by the Cherry Hill and Camden County Fire Marshal’s offices.
Pictures generously provided by Steve Skipton. Please visit www.phillyfirenews.com or www.newjerseyfireground.com for more photos.
