Once again its that time of year. This time we changed somethings up, the festival dates have changed to July 3rd and 4th. There is also a new location which will be held at the Willow Valley Resort, 2416 Willow Street Pike. After the July 3rd festival there will be fireworks. All are invited to come out and enjoy the fun. If you have questions feel free to call the firehouse 717-464-4622.

At 0513 the volunteers were dispatched for an overturned tractor trailer at Rt 272 southbound and Miller Rd. Engine 5-12-2 arrived to confirm an overturned milktanker in the woods leaking milk into the near by waterway. With the milk tanker having about 5,000 gallons of milk onboard, Chief 512 requested an additional Rescue and Engine to the scene to assist runoff into the local stream. At this point Lancaster County Haz-Mat team was also dispatched to the scene. Crews from Rescue 5-7 (Quarryville) and Engine 5-9-1 (Refton) worked about 2 miles upstream trying to stop the flowing of raw milk. When raw milk enters the waterway it kills the fish due to the milk taking all the oxygen out of the water. Crews worked throughout the morning controlling the milk flow and assisting DEP. Several fire departments for fire police were dispatched to assist due to Rt 272 being a major highway into Maryland. All companies cleared the scene alittle after 1000 hrs.

It is with deep regret that the Willow Street Fire Co announces the passing of Life Member and past Fire Chief Robert "Bob" Sauder..  Bob passed away this morning after a strong battle with cancer.  Bob was 66 years of age at the time of his passing. 

Bob joined the Willow Street Fire Co in January of 1964. He is still a member to this day giving him 45 years of service.  Bob became Fire Chief in 1984 and served until 1992.

Bob was a true leader in the fire service both on the fire ground and in the apparatus repair business.  Bob worked for Glick Fire Equipment in Bird-in-Hand.  When you took a fire truck to Glick's to get worked on you always stopped and talked to Bob. He knew how to tear apart a fire truck and put it back together with his eyes closed. He was always there when you called him if a rig broke down at a fire scene.

Please keep the Sauder family in your thoughts and prayers.

The services are as follows:

The viewing and services will be held at the Grace community Church located at 212 Peach Bottom Rd. The times for the viewing are as follows;

Tuesday June 23rd  1900-2100 hrs

Wednesday June 24th  0900-1000 hrs , following the viewing there will be a remembrance service.

The internment will be at the Byerland Mennonite Church.

ANY DEPARTMENT WISHING TO BRING APPARATUS PLEASE CONTACT CHIEF DAVE RESSE AT 717-464-4622 OR 717-475-6323

Just after 0800 the WLTFD (Willow Street, Lampeter) were alerted to Willow Street Pike and Beaver Valley Pike for an accident. Units arrived to find a work van on its side with one person still inside. Crews worked together on stabilization and patient removal. Crews removed the windshield of the van to get to the male patient inside. Units remained on scene for alittle over an hour assisting with traffic control and the tow company. *** Thank You to Greg Leaman for the pic's***

As dayshift was sleeping a strong line of thunderstorms rolled through the Willow Street area. Most of the southern end of the county stayed busy running calls

14:39- the company was alerted for a transformer on fire in the 2700 blk Willow Street Pike.

14:43- As members were loading onto the Engine, the in-house went off sending Engine 512-2 and Rescue 512 to the famous "Pole Cat Hollow" in the 400 blk Lancaster Pike for an injury accident. Engine 512-2 went enroute to check on the transformer call while the Rescue headed south to the accident. While enroute the Rescue was advised the accident was being upgraded with entrapment. With this information Rescue 5-7 was requested. On arrival of the Rescue Deputy 5-12 confirmed heavy entrapment. Crews from 512 and 57 deployed several tools and worked together to remove the driver in 29 minutes of Rescue 512.

15:10 - while working the entrapment call the Truck was dispatched to assist 5-9 (Refton) on a house fire. The box was placed inservice steam from a roof.

15:28- Engine 542 (Lampeter) was dispatched to cover the company on a wires call on Willow Street Pike.

18:17- Engine 512-2 and Truck 512 responded to an fire alarm on Rees Dr.

18:27- Truck 512 handled another wires call on Willow Street Pike

At 1355 Engine 541 (Lampeter) and Rescue 48 (Ronks) were dispatched to Rt 222 / Hans Herr Dr for a crash with entrapment. Rescue 48 was dispatched due to Rescue 512 being OOS for repairs. Chief 54 (Alexander) went enroute and advised communications to dispatch Engine 5-12-2. With a crew of 4 being at the firehouse then Engine was on the street within 20 seconds of the request. Engine 541 and 512-2 arrived at the same time to find 2 vehicles head on with 1 person still inside. It was decided by EMS to take the B-post and 2 doors. The crew from 512-2 deployed the power unit and went to work. Engine 512-1 arrived and assisted with crews working. Units from 512 and 54 remained onscene for about an hour.

Early Friday morning at 0355 the company was alerted to the 800 blk Pennsy Rd for a accident with one overturned. Engine 5-12-1 (covering Eng 2) and the Rescue arrived to find a jeep overturned with the driver out. Crews secured the vehicle and assisted EMS with patient care.

Today several members took time to attend career day at Willow Street Vo-Tech. This event is to educate the nursing students and teachers on the fire service. There were 10 class that spent 20 mins with us going over the rigs and pictures of the calls that we run from year to year. To finish the day off crews completed a extrication demo for all students and teachers. At the end of extrication SkyFlight Care from Brandywine Hospital landed to transport the mock patient to the hospital. After a fly around the block SkyCare proceed back to be viewed by the students and teachers.

At 0028 the Rescue was dispatched to assist Station 5-9 (Refton) on a vehicle accident with entrapment. Engine 591 arrived to find 1 vehicle on its side with the driver trapped. Rescue arrived and went inservice with 4 tools and rescue struts. Extrication was complete at 0055. Rescue remained on scene till 0130 assisting with lighting.

Today the Southern End Trucking Co's gathered in the time of need for the funeral of Conestoga Fire Co life member Larry Frankford Sr. Both companies were asked by Chief 5-3-2 (Thomas) to assist with the arch at the entrance of the cemetery. Both departments would like to send there thoughts out to the Frankford family and Conestoga Fire Co.

The members of the Willow Street Fire Co would like to congratulate Firefighter Zachary Sweigart for graduating from the United States Air Force Honor Guard Recruit School. Zach has been selected to be in the Presidential Honor Guard for the USAF. This is a very prestigious position in the Air Force and is known as one of the hardest technical school to complete within the Air Force. Zach has been assigned to the body bearing element of the Honor Guard and will spend most of his time at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Zach Stopped by the firehouse on his time off to visit and due a photo shoot with the members

The members of the Willow Street Fire Co would like to send there thoughts and prayers out to the Conestoga Fire Co and the Frankford family on there loss

At 1348 units from WLTFD were alerted to Rt 272 southbound and Kendig Rd for a crash with one trapped. The duty officer (Chief Reese) arrived to find a 2 car crash with 1 person still inside. Rescue arrived and assisted EMS with patient removal. Engine 5-12-2 and 5-4-1 arrived and assisted crews on scene with debris removal and fluid control. Units were cleared in about 50 mins.

This morning the dayside crew was kept busy with running 2 calls for service. The first run was for a residential fire alarm. Units arrived onscene to find a false alarm workers were sanding floors. Then an hour later the Rescue was dispatched to assist 5-4 with a vehicle accident. WLTFD units arrived to find a 2 vehicles crash with a fuel leak and debris all over the roadway. EMS was requested to check 1 person who denied transport. Units cleared in about 30 mins.

 At 0945 units from Willow Street and Lampeter were dispatched to Hans Herr Dr and Beaver Valley Pike for an accident with entrapment. Engine 541 (Chief Alexander) arrived to find a 2 vehicle crash with 2 people trapped. Captain 512 arrived and set up the Beaver Valley Pike command. On the arrival of the Rescue (Chief Reese), crews deployed 4 tools and started working with Engine 541. The first extrication was complete at 1001 hrs. Engine 541 crews joined up with the Rescues crew to finish the last vehicle. Crews worked another 20 mins to finish the last vehicle. With all patients in care of EMS the incident was placed undercontrol with units remaining on the scene till 1205 hrs. Station's 5-5 (New Danville) and 5-10 (Strasburg) fire police assisted with directing traffic around the area.

The members of the Willow Street Fire Co would like to send our thoughts and prayers out to the Ross family and the Quarryville Fire Co on there loss.