1/26/07 - Steelton Borough - Conestoga St

At 1125 hours Dauphin Box 501 sounded for a structure fire at 156 Conestoga Street. The first alarm assignment brought Company 50 (Steelton), Engines 41 (Bressler), 49 (Swatara Twp), and Rescue 40 (Paxtang). Chief 50 (Vance) arrived on location reporting a fully involved, 2.5 story, dwelling and requested Tower 1 (Harrisburg City) for work and Truck 32 (Progress) for RIT. Engine 50 arrived and secured its own water supply while crews stretched 2 attack lines. The fire was extending rapidly, driven by wind gusts, throughout the wood frame dwelling and threatening the 2 exposure buildings. Tower 1 arrived setting up on side 1 and went to the roof to open up. Engine 41 arrived grabbing a hydrant on Lincoln Street and along with Rescue 40 assisted interior crews who were making good progress on the first floor. The fire was now extending via the cockloft to the other exposure buildings. With multiple hand lines working the interior firefighters were able to knock the bulk of the fire down after it broke through the roof. Engine 2-13, Air 13 (West Shore), and Squad 30 (Penbrook) all were called to the scene. Earlier in the morning a dump truck brought down a major electrical line that services the borough on N. Front Street, leaving many parts of Steelton without power. The fire began when an occupant of the home was heating cooking oil before the outage, did not turn off the stove when the outage occurred, and when power was restored the cooking oil caught fire quickly spreading . 4 adults and 5 children were left homeless.