The Annville-Cleona Fire District responded to an incident Thursday afternoon in North Annville Township that saw significant smoke damage to the house and sent one woman to the hospital for smoke inhalation.
The incident occurred shortly before 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 24. Union Water Works Fire Company Chief James Hoffman Jr. was first to arrive on scene, responding to 911 calls of a woman entrapped in the building on the 1700 block of Russell Road.
According to a release by the fire district, Hoffman directed the woman in exiting the smoke-filled house by way of a second floor window that led to a “small, steep porch roof at the rear of the house.”
Hoffman was also able to enlist the help of some local workers prior to the arrival of fire trucks. The ladder can be seen in photos of the incident above.
Update Sunday Oct. 27: We got a bit more information on the local workers who assisted Hoffman in rescuing the woman trapped on the second floor of the house. Hoffman told LebTown in an email that within a couple minutes of arrival, he noticed a boom lift being operated on the property of the Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority. Hoffman ran over to the man operating the machine and explained the situation, after which the boom lift was moved to the rear porch area and the woman was assisted into the lift basket and lowered to the ground. Hoffman said that the man would be presented with an award by the Union Water Works Fire Company and North Annville Township Supervisors for his quick action in a dire situation.
The victim was transported to a local hospital by First Aid and Safety Patrol.
Responding companies included Union Water Works, Union Hose Company of Annville, Cleona, Neversink, Bellegrove, Northern Lebanon Emergency Services, Ebenezer, Glenn Lebanon, and Palmyra.
According to the release, the entire home sustained significant smoke damage, but the fire was contained to the room of origin. No cause of the fire was included in the release—we have reached out for more details and will update this post with any additional information we receive.
No firefighters were injured in the response to this incident.
Images courtesy of Annville-Cleona Fire District.