Frigid temperatures hamper Buffalo Township fire response

It was 4 degrees Tuesday morning when Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Department Chief Matt Cypher and his crew were called to a house fire.

Crews responded to the 600 block of Sarver Road in Buffalo Township at 1:30 a.m. When they got there, Cypher said, the five people living in the home were out of the house. One of them was taken to a hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.

“The back part of the house was fully involved,” Cypher said.

While some things in the downstairs part of the home were salvageable, the house itself is deemed a loss, Cypher said. The residents displaced by the fire are staying with family members in the area, he said.

What would have normally been a first-alarm fire was upgraded to a second-alarm to get more help on scene, Cypher said.

“Our responders that were handling hose lines, any mist from the spray was freezing on their gear,” Cypher said.

He said some equipment, such as breathing apparatuses or pieces on the trucks, were malfunctioning because of the low temperature. Hose lines had to be checked to make sure they weren’t freezing to the ground.

Reinforcements got to the scene to tap out first responders that needed a break, and with equipment that hadn’t been subjected to the elements for as long.

“The cold weather, it’s just taxing on the body,” Cypher said.

He said a rehab unit — a large heated vehicle where responders are able to take a break and get a warm drink before heading back out into the cold — was on scene. There were also ambulances available for responders to take shelter from the cold if.

He said that during and after the call, the area of road surrounding the site of the fire turned into a sheet of ice. PennDOT was alerted to salt the roads before the morning commute.