Russell Volunteer Fire Department

Today, members had our engine at the touch a truck event at Betts Park. This event has kids come and look at the truck and be able to climb in them and see what the operators and other users of the trucks see. There was more then just fire trucks with police cars, ambulances, tow truck, utilities trucks, game warden, and many more. Members also put on their turnout gear and air pack to show kids. Additionally, they also let kids try on their turnout gear and helmets. The other photos is one of two members from our department who participated in smashing the vehicle that was painted by kids throughout the day.

Update 7:30 am: South Main Street is clear with no standing of flowing water across the roadway. Additionally, Pine Grove Township road crew is out today clearing debris from wind damage. If they are working on a road that you are traveling on, please be careful and drive slowly when passing them.

So far during the storm, Russell VFD has handled three flooded roadways. North Main Street was flooded and major debris was cleared from the roadway (pictured). Maint Street and Liberty Street was assisted with traffic control until flooding receded. South Main Street still currently has water flowing over the road way and is closed. South Main Street (also known as Old 62) is closed from Market Street (Route 62) for about a quarter of a Mile. There is a turn around where it is closed coming from Russell. There is another 2 inches of rain expected overnight, therefore this stretch of South Main Street will likely remained closed until the morning. Please be aware of this when traveling to work or home in the morning of June 10th.

Tonight at Monday night drill Howell Rescue brought over battery operated extraction tools made by Genesis for members to cut and pry a car that was donated by one of our firemen. Howell Rescue came earlier in the year to show us the tools and talk about differences in models, tonight members got to put these tools to work and use them to cut and pry apart a car. These extraction tools are used when people are trapped in their vehicles in the event of a motor vehicle accident.... Currently, our extraction tools are run off of a portable power plant and use hydraulic lines, this set up takes a few firefighters to get set up and takes time. Our current tools are also greatly outdated and battery tools like these would greatly upgrade our tools and require less people to operate these tools. Members got to use different models of battery operated spreaders, cutters, and rams. Additionally, the representative sent by Howell Rescue is a vehicle rescue instructor and an experienced firefighter, this helped members by furthering their education in vehicle rescue with different techniques that none of our members have heard of before. This was a great drill for our members and we greatly appreciate and thank Howell Rescue for letting us try their tools and teach us some techniques!! See more

Chickens are on the racks and cooking! Reminder that serving starts at 11 am and goes until 3 pm or gone! $10 for a meal!! The second photo is a top down view of the line system which we used in our previous drive-thru chicken BBQ. The line in which you are placed had no meaning, it is purely trying to prevent traffic from backing up on East Street. Please enter East Street from Main Street, there will be tickets sold at the township office parking lot, as shown. You will n...eed a ticket to pick up each meal. There will be personnel assisting with controlling the line system. Edit: The ticket booth changed locations. The ticket booth is in the fire department parking lot rather than the township building parking lot.

At approximately 5:22 pm Russell VFD was called to assist Glade VFD with a large brush fire that was was difficult to reach by vehicle. Command wanted a strike team and the UTV. A crew of 5 firefighters respond with Utility 548 towing UTV 547. Russell’s crew assisted other crews with containing the fire by establishing fire lines to prevent the fire from spreading as well as assisting with mop up. Chief Dave Schwanke stated that the UTV worked well with the rough Terrain that the crew encountered. Crews from across Warren county also had to fight this fire at night, as pictured.

Today 8 members attended a chainsaw drill. Members went over maintenance of saws and safe use of chainsaws to clear problem trees that we often see on roadways. We would like to thank the DCNR District 14 fire wardens who took time out of their weekend to teach and State Fire Warden for Pine Grove Township Rod Eadie for letting us use his land to train.

Today at 11:43 am RVFD was alerted to a pole fire on route 62 near the Warren County School District Central Office. 5460 and 5410 arrived on scene and found a new replacement pole on fire due to wires coming in contact with the pole. Tanker 544 and Utility 548 responded and controlled fire on the ground once acring on the pole had stopped route 62 was closed between Woodland Drive and Route 957 for approximately an hour until the pole was completely out.

In the past 48 hours RVFD has answered 12 emergency call, 10 of those calls where weather related and 2 where EMS calls. In total 15 members have responded to numerous emergencies throughout Pine Grove Township. Pictured below is a tree fire we responded to last evening after being on scene for approximately 10 minutes the branch fell off of the power lines and was able to be extinguished.

As of right now we have handled over 8 incidents since 10:00 this morning, most of them weather related. There are multiple roads closed in the township at the moment and utility crews are out fixing the issues. We ask that residents limit travel around the township unless necessary until power is restored this is for they saftey of you and the utility crew workers. Thank you