On Nov.28, the Bradford City Fire Department was dispatched to a structure fire with possible entrapment at 370 Congress Street at 11:08 a.m. Tower 1 and Engine 1 responded with five firefighters under the command of Chief William McCormack. A second alarm was immediately requested while units were responding due to the report of entrapment.
Tower 1 arrived on scene to find heavy smoke and flames coming from the rear of a two story wooden structure. This brought nine off duty city firefighters to the scene with Engine 2, three ambulances and a paramedic unit. Bradford Township Volunteer Fire Department responded to Central Fire Station with two rescue engines and crews for standby during the incident.
Individuals on scene reported that two occupants were possibly inside the residence. One crew advanced a one and three quarter inch attack line into the first floor and began interior suppression operations while another crew using a thermal imaging camera performed search and rescue operations on the first and second floor. Another crew advanced a one and three quarter inch attack line to the rear of the building and extinguished the fire burning up the exterior of the building.
As additional firefighters arrived on-scene, an additional one and three quarter inch attach line was advanced to the second floor and attic areas for fire suppression.
No occupants were found in the residence. Two cats and a dog were rescued from the burning building that survived but unfortunately five other cats died in the fire. City firefighters were on scene for two hours.
