Sep. 2--Firefighters were presented with a challenge in eastern Berks County on Sunday afternoon: a silo fire that took more than four hours to get under control.
It all started when the owner of the former dairy farm in the 1000 block of Huffs Church Road in District Township called Eastern Berks Fire Department Chief Mike Mutter directly about a possible fire in a grain silo, Eastern Berks Fire spokesman Paul Bartlett said in an email.
On his way to the farm, Mutter made a call of his own -- to local silo fire specialist Eric Rickenbach.
"Unlike other kinds of fires, silo fires take time, patience and a special expertise," Bartlett wrote in his email.
Once Rickenbach and Mutter arrived on the scene, they consulted with the farm owner and devised a plan. The first step: Mutter called Eastern Berks Fire at 3:09 p.m. and requested two engines and two tankers to come to the scene.
He also requested Montgomery County's Pennsburg Tower 65. With light smoke visible from a vent, Pennsburg firefighters, acting on directions from Rickenbach, opened the top hatch, while Eastern Berks responders tackled the bottom.
The crews then used thermal-imaging cameras to determine the "seat of the fire and where to apply water from the top," Bartlett said.
A nearby farm pond provided crews with additional water.
More than four hours later, the incident was under control, leaving firefighters to "return to quarters for the long job of cleaning equipment," Bartlett said.
Morning Call reporter Jon Harris can be reached at 610-820-6779 or at [email protected].
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