The Adams Area Fire District was alerted to assist Station 21 (www.ctvfc21.org)  for a working residential building fire.

Chief 21-2 arrived on scene of a 2 story wood framed structure with heavy smoke showing and a working basement fire. He requested a second alarm for assistance.The second alarm brought Stations 42 (Adams Area), 26 (Big Knob), and RIT 185 (Marshall).  Cranberry Engine 3 (Lt. Gooch), was first on scene made an impressive interior attack containing the fire to the basement area. Adams Area Tower 42 (Asst. Chief Mann) along with Engine 42-3 (FF Minjock) completed the truck crew. RIT 22 (Zelie) was added to supplement the RIT.

The crews split into an interior and exterior truck crews. Exterior truck crew quickly laddered all four sides of the structure and then advanced to the basement area to help with overhaul. The interior truck crew searched the first and second divisions and provided ventilation while searching. Cleanup was completed and crews released by Command 21.

AAFD volunteers responded to 28 Fire related calls and 25 medical emergencies for a total of 53 runs for January 2012.

The Adams Area Firefighters were invited to celebrate a birthday. Asst. Chief Mann and Firefighter Lawther made a suprise visit to Max Collums for his 2 year birthday celebration. Max along with his family and friends got to tour the Tower Ladder. We operated the elevated platform and then sang Happy Birthday. Thanks Max for letting us be part of your big day. Hope to see you soon when you get older and become a member of our team.

For our weekly drill, district members gathered at the Valencia hall to continue our Basic Rigging class taught by instuctor Bob Barbarini. Class was interrupted, however, by an alarm for a possible structure fire on Hutchman Road. With crews available for all apparatus, we "dumped the house". Stations 19 and 21 were also on the alarm and Engine 21-3 had just cleared a call near the western border of the district. Adams Area crews arrived with E21-3 shortly behind to find only a minor smoke condition. The assignment was scaled back, and units quickly returned to finish class.

As friday the 13th dawned the members of the District were hoping that the newly fallen snow didn't make the travel of the day too bad. The members ran a total of 8 calls in that 24 hour period. 5 fire calls and 3 medical calls were answered by the crews.

On a side note only one of the calls was due to weather, a crash on rt 228 in Middlesex.

Even with that number of calls the day turned out to be smells, bells and people calling an ambulance........ Oh well

At approximately 2:42 AM, the alarm was struck for a structure fire on Jameson Way in Seven Fields Boro for Companies 42,19,21, Cranberry EMS and Cranberry Police. The initial dispatch indicated that flames were showing from the exterior of the residence.

A short time later Chief 42 (Hayes) arrived on location to find a working fire with a large amount of dark dense smoke from the second division, and an injured resident outside of the building. Engine 42-3 (Minjock) arrived quickly, responding from the new station in Seven Fields Boro with Engine 42 (McDonald) arriving shortly after. They were followed closely by Tower 21 (Ct. Mack).

The crews quickly stretched two pre connected hand lines and laddered the building. The crews were met with high heat and low visibility on the second division, ventilation was done on the "C" side giving the crews that chance to get a quick knock on the fire. Primary and secondary searches both proved to be negative for any other victims.

The crews worked for about 2 hours on clean up and extensive overhaul due to the high heat. The cause of the fire is still under investigation by The State Fire Marshall's Office.

After a brief quiet spell to start the year, early Thursday morning, AAFD members were alerted for an MVC on Route 228 in Seven Fields Boro. During the response crews were updated by Butler Control that there was one patient trapped.

Engine 42-3 (FF Makin) arrived to find a 2 vehicle MVA with one person trapped. Rescue 42 (FF Lawther) arrive shortly after, and Removed both doors and the "B" on the passenger side.

The patient was transported by Quality EMS to a region trauma center for treatment.

The crews operated for about 45 minutes and then returned.

On Wednesday August 3rd 2011, Firefighter Rob Ashmore’s actions went above the call of duty. Without regard for his own safety and without protective equipment he risked his own life in order to save another.


• Approximately 2259 hours of August 3rd 2011 a fire started in the kitchen at 55 Almira Street. All occupants at this address were sleeping or in the 2nd floor bedrooms with the exception of one person who attempted to ventilate for visibility and notify all other occupants to exit.

• Firefighter Rob Ashmore was awake across the street at his residence when he noticed a heavy smoke condition exiting the neighbor’s home. Rob quickly ran over to the house and found a kitchen fire on the first floor.

• At this time no smoke detectors were in operating condition and due to a medical condition the male occupant had lost his voice and was unable to warn those in the bedrooms on the upper floors.

• Firefighter Ashmore entered the smoke filled residence making his way to the second floor. With limited visibility he was able to find the bedrooms, wake the occupants, and lead them out of the building while carrying a small child in his arms.

• Once all occupants were removed Firefighter Ashmore ran to the fire station where he donned his protective clothing then responded back to the incident to assist with all fire ground operations.


It is with great pleasure that we recognize Firefighter Ashmore’s selfless and courageous act by presenting him with the Adams Area Fire Districts Gold Life Saving Medal.

On December 15th four AAFD members traveled to Honeywell First Responder Products in Dayton, Ohio to design a new protective clothing specification. The first step was to tour the plant to get an understanding of how the protective clothing is manufactured. Then the members spent time in the lab working with many different materials to design the best gear for our members. Testing enabled us to find a balance in Thermal Protective Performance, Total Heat Loss, and Conductive & Compressive Heat Resistance. The time in the lab provided tremendous insight into how gear performs. The last measure of business was to specify the design of pockets, closures, harnesses etc. Unlike the movies our gear is not completely "fire proof" but there is a lot involved to ensure it provides us with the maximum resistance at a fire and as much cooling as possible on a hot summer day.

The district is happy to announce that Firefighter Nick Aloisio has finished the PA Department of Health EMT course and is now certified as an EMT. We wish Nick well and remind him that there are many medicals for him to run! Congrats Nick!