Indiana Fire Association

On Friday, April 16th, 2021 at 0149 hours, the volunteers of the Indiana Fire Association were awaken by the Indiana County 911 Center for a commercial structure fire, Eisenhower Elementary School, 1460 School Street, Indiana Borough. Third Assistant Fire Chief David Smith responded as the Duty Chief along with First Assistant Fire Chief Ron Moreau, Ladder 106, Ladder 101, Rescue 105 from the Central Station and Engine 108 from the White Township Station. Police Officers from... the Indiana Borough Police were first on the scene and confirmed a working fire in several trailers at the end of the building. TAFC Smith arrived on scene and found heavy fire in two classroom buildings located on the "D" side of the structure. Ladder 106 was first on the scene and pulled to the "AD" corner. Several hand lines were advanced into the structure for an interior attack. Interior Firefighters soon found the roof collapsed on one classroom and concentrated their efforts at keeping the fire out of the main building. E108 arrived on scene and established a water supply from a hydrant to L106. L101 soon arrived and crews supplemented the interior attack while L106 used it's one hundred foot aerial ladder to begin exterior fire suppression. Mutual aid assistance was called from Creekside, Homer City, Penn Run, Clymer, Black Lick and Blairsville firefighters. A special request for Latrobe and Greensburg Fire Departments was made to help exhaust the huge amounts of smoke that filled the school. Crews worked on scene for roughly four hours and had an extensive clean-up on station. The fire is under investigation by the Pennsylvania State Police. Special thanks to the Indiana Borough Police, Citizens Ambulance Service, and Team 900.

EDIT: We were so excited to wish Eric a happy birthday that we did it a day early. His Birthday is April 16th. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Lieutenant/EMT/Engineer Eric Cramer! Eric joined the Association in July of 2001 and was assigned to Company Two.... Eric is a real asset to the Association. He currently serves as Lieutenant of Company 2. Eric is quick to help train any new member. Eric is very active and attends almost all trainings and answers hundreds of calls each year. Eric has served in the US Marine Corp and his leadership is very valuable to the Association. Please join us in Thanking Cramer for decades of volunteer service to the community and our country and let’s wish him a very Happy Birthday.

Occasionally we receive some great reminders of the leaders and volunteers of the past these helmets were donated by the family of William A Simpson who served as the IFA Fire Chief from 1956 to 1964. Mr. Simpson joined the IFA on March 5, 1936 and prior to becoming the Chief, served 19 years as a firefighter (including secretary for nine years and as an Assistant Chief for three). Mr. Simpson was a partner in the family-owned Indiana Lumber and Supply for more than 40 y...ears, formally located at 10th & Oak in Indiana’s Fourth Ward. He was a Veteran of WWII and served on many community and civic minded boards, including Citizens Ambulance, where he served for many decades. Many thanks to Chief Simpsons daughter Kathy and his son Kerry for the great donation! These and other historic items are displayed in our White Township Station on Indian Springs Road.

Kindness for sure! Many thanks to Terri Miles for her donation of four cases of bottled water today! Hot weather ahead, thirsty firefighters close behind! Thank you for thinking of us!

Your volunteer fire fighters responded to 63 incidents in March and 140 incidents as of April 1. We had 491 total responses by personnel in March by members to fire/rescue incidents. Members spent a total of 475 hours in service on fire/rescue incidents in March ... We Averaged 13 members per incident in March Property Damaged by Fire in March 2021: $29,200 Incidents by Municipality Indiana Borough 21 Incidents White Twp. 31 Incidents IUP 0 Incidents Armstrong Twp. 3 Incident Rayne Twp. 3 Incidents Center Twp. 0 Incidents Mutual Aid 5 Incidents Incidents by Time of Day 12am 8am 8 Incidents 8am 4pm 37 Incidents 4pm 12am 18 Incidents Type of Calls General Alarms 1 Incident Two Company 17 Incidents One Company 22 Incidents Rescue Squad 12 Incidents Silent Alarms 10 Incident Other Alarms 1 Incidents Incidents by Day of the Week Sunday 11 Incidents Monday 10 Incidents Tuesday 9 Incidents Wednesday 8 Incidents Thursday 9 Incidents Friday 9 Incident Saturday 7 Incidents We have been busy training with over 322.5 hours spent in training in March. Plus the usual meetings, committees, cleaning, and the time to put equipment back into service after the calls. We currently have 35 regular active members 5 student members 6 junior members We thank each one of them for there willingness to volunteer and serve the community. For more information about the Indiana Fire Association or to apply for membership please visit our website. www.indianafire.com Thank you for your continued support. Top 3 Responders Overall for March: 1. NickBurkhart40 out of 63 Incidents 2. ShaunTeacher34 3. JohnSteigert32 Top 3 Rescue Responders for March: 1. NickBurkhart8 out of 12 Rescue Incidents 2. ShaunTeacher7 3. CraigLevine6 Top 3 Engineer’s for March: 1. JohnSteigert16 out of 63 Incidents 2. RickHenry13 3. JoeOtt11 Top 5 Responders Overall for 2021: 1. NickBurkhart81 out of 140 Incidents 2. JohnSteigert80 3. ShaunTeacher74 4. ScottSchuller66 5. RonMoreau59 Top 5 Rescue Responders for 2021: 1. JohnSteigert29 out of 40 Incidents 2. ScottSchuller26 Shaun Teacher 26 3. NickBurkhart25 4. CodeyVenanzio21 5. LeeThompson19 Top 5 Engineer’s for 2021: 1. JohnSteigert26 out of 140 Incidents 2. RickHenry23 3. ScottSchuller20 4. JoeOtt19 5. CodeyVenanzio18

Volunteers of the Association took advantage of an awesome opportunity to train today. 9 members of the association traveled to Norwalk Ohio last night and woke up at 6am to spend all day training in an advance track of Heavy Rescue 101. This training is a great chance to learn new techniques, refine some old techniques, try new equipment, and learn from some of the best firefighters and rescue personnel in the nation. This class was sponsored by the Northern Ohio FOOLS. An...d this was their 15th year of offering the training. IFA was also able to send volunteers in 2019. The class consists of 5 evolutions of different scenarios. The instructors all come with decades of experience and knowledge. The Association is greatful for the opportunity and very thankful for its members that are willing to give up a weekend to better themselves. Always willing to learn and eager to improve.