Videos: Simultaneous Multi-Alarm Fires Challenge Firefighters in Bethlehem, PA
Kurt Bresswein
The Express-Times
(TNS)
The Bethlehem Fire Department and its partners handled two house fires Friday, less than two hours apart and spanning the city.
Two firefighters suffered burns in the second call, in the 1900 block of Hart Street in Northeast Bethlehem, according to city fire Chief Matthew Griffin.
They were evaluated by Bethlehem EMS but did not require immediate hospital treatment, planning instead to follow up at a St. Luke’s University Health Network facility, Griffin said.
No one else was reported hurt in either the Hart Street fire, reported about 11:20 a.m., or the earlier fire called in about 9:30 a.m. in the 1400 block of East Fifth Street on the city’s Southside.
Both fires occurred in single-family homes, and the causes are under investigation by Bethlehem’s fire marshal.
Fire officials called in a third alarm on the East Fifth Street call, bringing in additional staff and mutual aid assistance from the Allentown Fire Department.
Allentown fire Capt. Jonathan Hammel said his department sent two engines to the Southside incident, diverting one while en route to the Hart Street fire.
“First arriving units found a working fire in a residence,” he wrote in a news release.
Both fires were “well advanced” when firefighters responded, Griffin noted.
The Hart Street fire grew to a second alarm “due to challenges of void spaces within the home,” Hammel said.
Nancy Run Fire Co. from Bethlehem Township also sent a truck and 11 firefighters to the East Fifth Street call, with the crew assisting there then responding to Hart Street.
Griffin credited everyone involved for their efforts in bringing both incidents under control.
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