Pictured above are John Alexander, Board Chairman, left and Steve Roy, President, right, presenting the Valor Award to Lancaster Bureau of Fire, members l to r Tim Wilk, Ryan Lehr and Jason Greer.

On the 20th of Jan. 2011 at 8:53 pm County 911 received a call reporting smoke coming from the roof at 315 N. Queen St. They immediately sent out a dispatch for a building fire and all members of B-platoon working that evening immediately responded to this location.

Engine 1 was first arriving and found smoke showing from the roof along with the windows on the first floor already smoke covered.

Multiple crews assisted with forcible entry due to the business being locked. Access was also difficult due to displays and clothing racks being placed in front of the door from the interior thus making the process of gaining entry even more difficult.

Once the door was forced, Engine 3’s crew, and the Lieutenants from Engine 1 and Truck 1 made entry to search the building and begin attacking the fire.

Members of Truck 2 and Truck 1 raised ladders to initiate buildings ventilation. Engine 2 stood by as an initial RIT team. FF Ryan Lehr led the initial charge into the building due to him having the hose line. The smoke was so dark and thick that there was zero visibility, combined with large amount of goods and clothing inside the building, movement was very difficult.

FF Lehr asked FF Tim Wilk to go in front of him because he had a TIC (Thermal Imaging Camera) that could see through the smoke. After proceeding about 20 feet into the building FF Wilk stopped to do a scan with the TIC, at this time FF Lehr noticed a body to his left in between two counters on that wall.

Talking afterwards to everyone who was inside the fire building the initial reaction of a body being found was shock and disbelief. Since it was later in the evening and the store appeared to be closed I don’t think initially anyone suspected someone would be inside. Access to the victim was very difficult due to his location in the building and his size.

Lt. Bucek, along with FF Wilk, FF Lehr and FF Greer repositioned him into the center walkway and from there Engine 3’s crew of Wilk, Lehr, and Greer removed him from the building and placed him on the sidewalk.

Lt. Bucek picked up the hoseline and protected those members exit as well as continued attempting to extinguish the fire while Lt. K. Ressler from Truck 1 and FF Lehr who had re-entered the building, continued to search.

When occupant, Mr. Murray, was removed from the building he was not breathing and FF’s Wilk and Greer began CPR, very shortly there after he began to breathe again and actually briefly lifted his head.

At this time the LEMSA EMS crew arrived at the patient and took over his medical care. They immediately prepped him for transport and FF D.Perry helped them package and lift Mr. Murray onto the litter.

All while this was going on the interior crews were making a valiant effort to extinguish the fire. Unfortunately with the large amount of fire and a mechanical issue with Engine 1 all crews were ordered to evacuate the building.

LFD recognizes and thanks the EMS personnel riding on 6-12-3 along with Medic 100 all from LEMSA who contributed significantly to Mr. Murray’s survival due to the great pre-hospital care he received.

The city police also assisted us due to our limited on duty man power with initially checking some of the exposures along with letting B/C Klugh know what was going on in the rear of the building since this building spanned a full block.

The final thanks goes out to the dispatchers at 911 and all the companies who came out to assist us on a cold and snowy night.

Also this past Nov. the members of B-platoon from Station 3 along with B/C Klugh who was also in command on Queen St. were dispatched to an emergency on Green St. where four adults had become gravely ill from CO poisoning and had to be physically rescued from the building.

These four people were minutes from death. That makes a total of 5 citizens that the firefighters on B-platoon at Station 3 with B/C Klugh in charge have rescued from certain death in a 3 month period.

FF’s Ryan Lehr and Jason Greer have either found or physically rescued all five of the people mentioned. In closing, we all wish Mr. Murray a full and speedy recovery!