Lancaster Township Fire Department responded to a townhouse fire at 10 Townsend Court, Sunday January 23, 2005. A passerby saw flames and smoke coming from the roof of the townhouses on Townsend Court in the Gable Park Woods Development and called 911 at 10:31 p.m.
Smoke was billowing from the roof of 10 Townsend Court and was replaced by a small flame around the chimney area. Less than a minute later, the small flame engulfed the entire ridge line. The roof collapsed and the attic was fully involved in flames.
The fire began impinging on the roof/attic area of the exposure buildings at 9 and 11 Townsend Court. Smoke began seeping from the gable ends and the ridge line along the entire structure.
Lancaster Township Engine 6-6-2 arrived and was instructed to stretch a supplyline from a hydrant in front of the fire building. Firefighters initially advanced one handline into a exposure building and one line into the fire building.
Firefighters operated into the attic areas of the exposure buildings and the main fire building and stopped the fire from extending.
The main body of fire was knocked down in approximately 30-45 minutes and all visible fire was knocked down in less than 1 hour.
The blaze destroyed the roof and second floor of the home, which is in the middle of the row six townhouse units. The fire also burned through walls of units at 9 and 11 Townsend Court, but those units sustained less damage.
Firefighters braved the night cold to battle the three-alarm blaze that caused $200,000 damage to three townhouse units.
