Why does a Coatesville fire truck respond to a call that has nothing to do with a fire? Councilperson Brazzle and response from Acting Fire Chief. Jim Lentz

This is a part of Coatesville City Councilperson’s “Council Comments” at the June 13, 2011 Coatesville City Council Meeting:

Mr. Brazzle, “I’ve got a question for the fire department. When we respond to a call that has nothing to do with a fire; a prime example of, there was a call made, abandoned house, abandoned, made (into) a house that you know was unlivable. We shut it down. The person wanted to come and get their stuff out of the house. Why do we need to take a fire truck so to allow that person into the house to be able to get the stuff?”

Acting Fire Chief Jim Lentz, “If it is the Fire Department’s responsibility to let somebody into a house which quite frankly is really infrequent.

The Fire Department personal on duty is required to staff that piece of equipment 24/7 and are required to be on it 24/7. And the reason is, if there is a fire emergency or a medical emergency that we need to respond to, we’re on it like that, in an instant.

We pride ourselves in making sure we have the most prompt, probably the fastest response in Chester County. That is what keeps so many incidents small. We get a fire in a kitchen, we get a fire in a bedroom we get water on that fire in 2,3, 4 minutes. It makes that much of a difference.

There was a time in this department when personnel were without their fire trucks and it created larger fires, larger incidents and  left personnel by themselves shorthanded for periods of time and created safety issues. That’s why the fire apparatus is always with the on duty firefighter.”

Mr. Brazzle, “Alright, Thank you.

Also there is a pile of dirt, you know that residents keep complaining about… where they are putting the Walgreens up and stuff like that. They want me to complain about that; I’m doing it… Right now, I’m their Councilperson so I had to say something about it.

And that’s really about it. Have a good night. Thanks’ for coming out.