Fire companies from across Chester County were involved in fighting a fire in a large garage filled with priceless antique cars and tractors on Wednesday afternoon.

The dispatch for a garage on fire reached fire department pagers at 2:02pm for the Po-Mar-Lin (Unionville) Fire Company, with assisting units from the West Grove, Avondale, Cochranville, Modena and Longwood fire companies, and paramedics from Medic 94. 911 callers reported flames from the garage with nearby adjacent structures. Inbound units noted a large plume of smoke from several miles out and additional water tankers were requested (1st alarm tanker task force) as the call location was in a very rural area of West Marlboro Township on Wilson Road.

First arriving units found a large volume of fire from the front side of the garage. First in was Engine 36 which laid a large diameter supply line up the driveway, and immediately deployed a 2-1/2" attack line. Typically, departments lead off with an 1-3/4" line for most fires which offer flexibility and ease of deployment, however the 2-1/2" is helpful for quickly knocking down a high volume of fire like in this case. Ladder 25 arrived next and came up the driveway along with an engine from Modena as crews battled the fire.

Arriving tankers, including Tanker 22 from the WGFC, were able to quickly supply the fire fight as additional handlines were deployed. Firefighters from Po-Mar-Lin, Longwood and West Grove, among others, worked to open up the building walls, find pockets of fire, and put out fires over the two hour operation. Firefighters faced partial roof collapse and a 30 X 40 foot building full of vintage cars and tractors and heavy fire conditions.

Units from the WGFC including Engines 22-2 and Engine 22-1 were requested to a nearby pond about 1/4 mile from the fire scene to assist Rescue 36 with establishing a water supply line at a nearby pond.

The fire operation had roads in the area of Wilson and Ryan Roads closed during the operation. Fire companies from adjacent areas like West Chester and Concordville were used to standby in the Kennett Area until the call was cleared.

(Our thanks to Po-Mar-Lin, Modena, and Cochranville Fire Companies for photographs)