Firefighters from across Chester County were called to assist the Po-Mar-Lin Fire Company (36) of Unionville on a working house fire after midnight on Thursday night.

The fire, on Poplar Tree Road in East Marlborough Township, involved units from more than ten fire companies. First arriving units reported heavy fire across more than 50 percent of the under-renovation dwelling. When the fire command requested a Tanker Task Force be dispatched, the West Grove Fire Company was alerted to assist on the call.

Tanker task forces are deployed to provide large volumes of water supply to fires in rural communities. Across large areas of Chester County, fire hydrants simply are not available, so area fire companies have water tankers in their fleets, typically carrying 3000+ gallons of water. The task force pulls tankers from multiple fire companies to provide the fire operation with a reliable, high volume source of water.

Tanker 22 from WGFC responded, joining Tankers from Longwood, Kennett, West Chester, Concordville, West Bradford, and Avondale, shuttling water from a hydrant at Station 36 to a water supply operation at the fire scene.

Firefighters from West Grove also responded in Engine 22-1, with the crew assisting 36 with overhaul (opening up walls and ceilings to expose areas of fire spread) and extinguishing hot spots throughout the home. WGFC crews were on scene working for about two hours, with WGFC units returning to the West Grove area to go available at nearly 3am. Interestingly, this was the first working fire for Engine 22-1, first put in service this week.