Fort Washington Fire Company No. 1

On Friday afternoon, Coach Pat Lacon and the members of the Upper Dublin High School Lacrosse team visited the firehouse. Chief Rathfon addressed the team about the value of teamwork and his feats in the 1990's while playing on the team. The team then participated in a physical fitness challenge wearing fire fighting gear, with the winner taking home a FWFC t shirt. Thanks to the team for visiting!

Work Sunday at the training grounds.

Engine 88 headed into the home stretch! Final inspection @piercemfg is early next month.

Please help us operate safely!

Last night at drill, the company worked on basement fire tactics. It was a good opportunity for many of our newer members to work on their skills and learn about fire behavior.

The Fort Washington Fire Company would like to recognize the following 2020 award recipients: Member of the Year - Jeffrey Fogel Junior Firefighter of the Year - Harrison McDonald Rookie of the Year - Josh Hyrnda... Spirit Award - Jenna Waldon Meritorious Service Award - Dietz Woldecke Lifetime Achievement Award - William Gordon Deputy Chief’s Award - Rick Echevarria and Bob Lester (6,000 total fire calls) Chief’s Award - Jeffrey Fogel (8,000 total fire calls) Congratulations to our award winners on a job well done!

Fort Washington personnel responded to this truck fire on the Pennsylvania Turnpike this morning at mile marker 337 Westbound. Squad and Engine 88 were on scene.

New info on the FWFC website about 2020 incident data! https://www.fortwashingtonfc.org/news/98/2020-Call-Summary

Those wishing to enjoy sledding at Twining Valley Park should use the main parking lot off located at 1400 Twining Road and access sledding hills from there. P...arking in the Fort Washington Fire Company No. 1: Burn Brae Fire Station parking lot and along the access road to the fire station (off Susquehanna Road) are not permitted. Parking on Ayr Lane is highly discouraged. Upper Dublin Township wishes everyone to be safe as they enjoy their time at Twining Valley Park.

With the forecasted storm, please remember to CLEAR FIRE HYDRANTS from snow ASAP. We ask that you keep an eye on hydrants by your home, as they may need to be c...leared multiple times over the next few days. A covered hydrant will severely delay our firefighters in an emergency. Take a look at this photo for the clear away zone. #snowstorm #upperdublintownship #iloveud See more

The Fort Washington Fire Company offers its members many opportunities to elevate their physical fitness. Besides offering a fully outfitted fitness room and instructor led fitness classes, we hold several classroom opportunities. Tonight, we partnered with Dennis and Blue Bell Physical Therapy of Spring House to hold a Run Clinic for our members and their families. Blue Bell Physical Therapy of Spring House is a big supporter of the FWFC and is the title sponsor for the The Fort Washington Fire Company Hotfoot 8.8.

Part of Monday night’s drill: a timed evolution-exit the apparatus, mask up, drag 5 hose and pull a hose bundle to the 2nd floor. All members also had their gear inspected for any defects.

Photos from Wednesday night’s Halloween pop up event held with @upperdublinpd and @udt_parksandrecreation

Please note the DATE CHANGE for our Trick or Treat Pop-Up Event this week. Due to forecasted poor weather conditions, the event is now taking place on Wednesday, 10/28/2020, instead of Thursday. Thank you for your understanding!

10/26/20 Weekly Company Drill - On Monday night crews split up into two groups. The newer members went over primary search techniques with Jerry Smith Jr. Jerry has been a member with Fort Washington for many years and currently works on Rescue 1 in Baltimore City. The second group worked on removing an unconscious 185lb victim from a second floor window during a simulated Vent Enter Search scenario. Joe Dishler from the Montgomery County Urban Search & Rescue team showed us how to use a single rope and portable ladder to remove a victim from a second floor window and below grade.

Today was supposed to be our annual Hotfoot race, which we had to cancel this year. That didn’t stop several FWFC members from getting together to run the course. We hope to be back bigger and better in 2021!

FWFC at Thursday night’s Trick-or-Treat Pop-up Event at the Upper Dublin Township building. Thanks to everyone that came out and special thanks to Kennedy for the awesome letter she gave us! We will see everyone at the next event.

New member orientation on Saturday morning for 8 new members. Thanks to FF Lockhart, FF McDonald and Past Chief and 65 year member Pennypacker for assisting with the class. Interested in finding out more? Shoot us an email: [email protected].

Tonight's drill will be on forcible and passive entry. The skills we are going over tonight will prepare our crews to quickly gain access to a plethroa of doors, latches and locks. Coastal Fire Training, LLC.

Did you know?: On this day, 149 years ago, two of the most devastating fires in United States history occurred. Most people are aware of the Great Chicago fire which burned between October 8th and 10th, killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly 3 square miles of the city, and left more than 100,000 residents homeless. Fire Prevention week, which started in 1911, is always held this week to commemorate the Great Chicago fire.... On the same day, a fire occurred in Pestigo, WI which destroyed almost 2,000 square miles and left between 1,500 to 2,500 dead and 3,000 homeless. It took several days for news of the Pestigo fire to make its way to major cities but by that time, Chicago was front page news.

After numerous delays due to the pandemic, FF Matt Chiodo was finally able to wrap up his classes and earned his black helmet after our weekly drill.

Engine 88-1 is at the Abington Township Fire Training Center helping out with the Firefighter 1 class.

This is the newest addition to our burn building. Its nickname is the "Rathfon" master stream prop. As the training officer at Fort Washington I'm always open to new ideas / props that help further our goal of mastering the basics. Earlier in the year our Chief came to me with a few ideas for additions to our training grounds. This prop was one of them. It was secured to the roof of our burn building and will be used for master stream target practice. The timing of this... prop coincides with the construction of our new engine which should go into production in two months. One of the changes we made to our new engine is that we moved the location of the deck gun to the drivers side and also added a control valve up top at the gun. We had our local welding company Anderson Welding & Sons LLC design and build this for us. Clint at Anderson Welding was awesome to work with and made creating this prop a very smooth process. Its basically a cantilevered section of metal plate / mesh that will lean back when the stream hits it and return back to its vertical position when the stream stops. There is a length of chain on each side that will limit how far it will lean back when under load. Since this is a brand new prop for us we have the ability to add more weight to the front lower section under the flames. #fwfc #enginecompany #engine88 Anderson Welding & Sons LLC Anderson Ironworks https://www.fortwashingtonfc.org/content/training/

Congrats to firefighter Pappas, who was presented his black helmet and shield tonight after our drill for completing his required training. #fort #fwfc #fortwashingtonfire