Pictured above are John Alexander Board Chr., left and Steve Roy, President, right, presented 3 distinguished Unit Awards to the Rohrerstown Fire Company for 3 different incidents. Accepting the awards on behalf of the Fire Co. was D/C Craig Irwin and Firefighter Ken Zimmerman.

INCIDENT 1 The crew of truck 6-7 operating as the first arriving Truck Co. at a working residential structure fire on July 2, 2010 at 05:59. The fire was located at 2317 Marietta Ave. in East Hempfield Twp.

Ken Zimmerman, Zach Hartmann, Adam Wright, Kurtis Baum arrived to find heavy fire showing from Side Charlie of 2 l/2 story wood frame house.

While the crew of Engine 6-7-1 was deploying handlines and attacking the fire, the crew of Truck 6-7 was conducting a search of the structure. The crew came upon two unresponsive victims in the 2nd floor bedroom on Side Alpha.

The crew immediately radioed they were extricating victims out the second floor windows onto the porch roof, Side Alpha.

Once on the porch roof, the victims were passed to Chief 6-7 along with crews from 6-8 and 6-5. The victims were carried to the ground and passed to awaiting EMS crews.

Incident 2 The crew was operating as the first arriving companies at a working residential structure fire on Dec. 24, 2010 at 16:10.

The fire was located at 1003 Chapel Forge Dr. in East Hempfield Twp. Crews arrived to find heavy fire showing from Side Charlie of a 2 -l/2 story wood frame house.

While the crew of Engine 6-7-1 was deploying hand lines and attacking the fire, the crew of Truck 6-7 was conducting a search of the structure. Captain Zahm, who arrived in the duty vehicle, joined up with the crew of Truck 6-7.

Nine minutes after arrival, as the crew was searching down a hallway the floor gave way below Capt. Zahm. Capt. Zahm fell through the opening in the floor and was able to catch himself by extending his arms and grabbing the remaining floor on which he was just standing. He was also able to get his feet and legs onto some sagging wires that were strung between the first floor and basement. He was unable to free himself.

Capt. Zahm immediately attempted to transmit a mayday, but was unsuccessful. OIC Race, who was directly behind Capt. Zahm, called out the mayday. The other members of Truck 6-7 and Engine 6-7-1 were operating in the immediate area, and were able to use hooks to drag Capt. Zahm out of the hole to a point he could self-extricate. Capt. Zahm was extricated 2 minutes after the mayday was called.

As soon as Captain Zahm was freed, crews went right back to suppression duties and worked with other crews to hold and extinguish the fire.

I feel the crews of Truck 6-7 and Engine 6-7-1 performed their duties flawlessly to rescue one of their own in a highly stressful environment. The crew’s efforts kept Captain Zahm from falling completely through the floor, into the seat of the fire and suffering severe injuries.

Crew members included were D/C Craig Irwin, OIC Zach Race, Lt. Ryan Patterson, Lt. Ken Zimmerman, Lt. Zach Hartmann, FF Mike Reiff, and FF Adam Wright.

Incident 3 The crew was operating as the first arriving company at a working residential fire with reported entrapment on Dec. 31, 2010 at 04:40.

The fire was located at 2459 Marietta Ave. in East Hempfield Twp. Crews arrived to find smoke showing from all sides of a 2 l/2 story wood frame house with people on the porch roof.

The residents were sleeping on the second floor and awoke to crashing sounds. They quickly realized they were not able to make it down the stairs due to high heat and heavy smoke.

They crawled out a window onto the porch roof on the Alpha side. Engine 6-7-1 and Truck 6-7 arrived within 3 minutes of dispatch. Upon their arrival, crews quickly deployed ground ladders and hose lines to protect and assist the people trapped on the roof.

The crews of Truck 6-7 and Engine 6-7-1 performed their duties flawlessly to assist the residents to safety. The crew’s efforts held the fire in check and retrieved the residents from the roof providing a safe outcome to this incident.

The crew included Zach Hartmann, Jay Miller, Zach Race, Mike Reiff, Matthew Reifsnyder, Troy Seltzer, Joe Shapiro, Adam Wright, and Ken Zimmerman