Willingboro Firefighters spent the early morning hours of August 17th assisting two local fire departments at major incidents. The first incident was dispatched at 2:27 am in Moorestown Township. The second incident was dispatched at 5:16 am in Edgewater Park.

The incident in Moorestown was a multi-alarm house fire at 451 Windrow Clusters Drive. Engine 1613 responded as a Rapid Intervention Crew (RIC) for the fire. A RIC is called on a significant fire or other emergency as deemed necessary by the Officer In Charge. The purpose of a RIC is to act as a rescue crew for any firefighter that becomes lost, injured, or otherwise incapacitated during firefighting operations.

The fire occurred in the end unit of a block of four attached homes. When Moorestown firefighters arrived on scene they found heavy fire coming through the roof of the home. Once Engine 1613 arrived on location the crew was sent to the rear of the homes. The crew remained in their full protective closing on a night that was extremely humid. Once the fire was under control, Lieutenant Friddell along with Firefighters Anderson and Priest were used to check for fire in the attic of a neighboring home. The crew was released from the scene at 4:54 am.

The crew was back in station for about five minutes when they were dispatched at 5:16 am to 4175 Route 130 South at the Willingboro RV Center in Edgewater Park. Engine 1632 responded along with departments from Beverly, Delran, Delanco, Riverside, Riverton, and Burlington City. Several callers reported a heavy smoke condition in the area of the Edgewater Park Wawa. Delanco Deputy Chief 1101 arrived on location and reported a fire in the rear of the property.

Engine 1612 arrived and proceeded to the rear of the property. Lieutenant Friddell and firefighter from Beverly cut a security lock which gained access to a rear storage yard for Engine 1612. Firefighter Robertson pulled a 2 1/2" hose line from the engine and started to extinguish the fire on the outside of the building. Beverly Engine 1224 connected a 5" supply hose to a fire hydrant on Route 130 and proceeded to the rear of the property and supplied water to Engine 1612.

A 1 3/4" hose line was taken off of Beverly Engine 1224 to start extinguishing the fire that had started to burn inside of the building. Captain Ramsey and Firefighter Priest forced entry into a garage and found tires burning in the building. Lieutenant Friddell pulled a 1 3/4" hose line from Engine 1612 and connected it to a foam unit to help extinguish the burning tires on the outside of the building. Crews from other departments were on the roof of the building tearing apart areas of the roof that were starting to burn.

The Officer In Charge of the incident called for a second alarm due to the intensity of the fire and the high humidity conditions. As additional crews arrived on scene they took over for the units that were on scene early in the incident. The fire was under control in about 40 minutes. An investigation was conducted by the Burlington County Fire Marshals Office. Engine 1612 was released from the scene at 7:26 am.