It was 4 degrees Tuesday morning when Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Department Chief Matt Cypher and his crew were called to a house fire.
Crews reported to the 600 block of Sarver Road in Buffalo Township at 1:30 a.m. Cypher said when they got there, the five people living in the home were out of the house. One of them was taken to a hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
“The back part of the house was fully involved,” he said.
Cypher said, while some things in the downstairs part of the home were salvageable, the house itself is deemed a loss. The residents displaced by the fire are staying with family members in the area, he said.
What would have normally been a first alarm fire was upgraded to a second alarm to get more help on scene, Cypher said.
“Our responders that were handling hose lines, any mist from the spray was freezing on their gear,” Cypher said.
He said different pieces of equipment like breathing apparatuses or pieces on the trucks were malfunctioning because of the low temperature. Hose lines had to be checked to make sure they weren’t freezing to the ground.
Reinforcements got to the scene to tap out first responders that needed a break, and with equipment that hadn’t been subjected to the elements for as long.
“The cold weather, it’s just taxing on the body,” Cypher said.
He said there was a rehab unit on scene. It’s a large heated vehicle where responders are able to take a break and get a warm drink before heading back out into the cold. There were also ambulances on scene for responders to take shelter from the cold if they needed.
He said, during and after the call, the area of road surrounding the site of the fire turned into a sheet of ice. They called in PennDOT to come salt the roads to make it safe for morning commuters.