Pond Hill-Lily Lake Fire Department has been approved for $12,161.20 from the PA state grant!  This money will be going towards new hose nozzles and a few miscellaneous equipment expenses.  Some of the money is also being set aside for truck payments so our department can stay ahead of the finical game.

The dry hydrant at Lily Lake (the one in the parking lot, not the one on the road) is currently unusable during a fire scene!  The parts are in to repair it, but it must be done in warmer weather and therefore is on hold.  The hydrant currently leaks air into the system and causes suction loss.  It can be used to fill a truck directly off of it (slowly), but can not support multiple truck operations.  It is advised to use the secondary hydrant in the area or simply use the lake itself until repairs can be made.

Please be aware!  If you do use the boat launch itself to get water, be aware not to trap any bystanders on the lake.

If you look at the members of Pond Hill-Lily Lake Fire Company you may see a group of individuals that are just trying to get by, however, this is far from the truth.  An aging fire station, a list of needed supplies that can’t even fit on a single piece of paper, and one of the smallest groups of members in the area; the challenges for PHLL’s firefighters seem endless.  However, when you ask one of them how life at the station is going you get a different attitude, a mindset that you do not see much of anymore.  You get a response that makes you feel like their station is brand new and their numbers are endless.  No member seems to complain about the old equipment, but instead they look forward to the new gear their next grant will get them.  Their members are happy to work for what they have and seem willing to work past all the issues.

Why is this?  This is caused by a sense of brotherhood in the firefighter life.  Most of these members could easily blame the economy or funding, but instead they mention how dropping out would hurt the members who stay around.  Their trucks are all ready to go aid someone in their time of need and their spirits are high.  And even with most of them working over 40 hour weeks to support their families, they will still be there when some of the worst situations imaginable happen.

Hopes remain high as members of PHLL explain how the past two state level grants have been used to nearly triple their ability to fight a fire and how future grants are already preplanned to modernize all of their fire trucks.  With the additional gaming grant funding out there, the members are very hopeful they can work with their township to replace the aging station.

Membership is always a necessity and this group of a few remaining fire fighters is always willing to accept new members into the firefighter life.  In 1977, there were 300,000 volunteer firefighters in PA. Today, the number is closer to 50,000.  The day may come when someone dials 911 and no one shows up, but Pond Hill’s firefighters are aiming to prevent that situation for their community.

Pond Hill-Lily Lake Fire Department has restarted their monthly drill program!  These drills will be aimed at improving our members’ ability to operate our apparatus, tools, and to greatly improve our teamwork on the fire scene.   The goal is to have a drill on the last Saturday of every month at 2pm, but it may be adjusted to fit events and holidays in, check our events list for the next drill!

The drills themselves will be based on both weather and member turnout.  If it is bad weather or simply a low turnout day, then gear checks and simple drills may be done vs a high turnout day that includes pumping and water movement drills.  Multiple department based drills will also be factored in to increase our ability to work with neighboring companies.  Everyone is welcome to ours drills, even members form neighboring companies.

Pond Hill-Lily Lake Volunteer Fire Department will be having a brush fire based in-house drill on Saturday March 29th.  This drill will be geared towards preparing our members for the upcoming brush fire season.  This is also a good time to note that residents should watch what they are burning and always have a water source ready to put out any fire that begins to spread away from the source.  Please do not burn anything outside during a very dry, windy day.

This drill is aimed towards improving, or in some cases simply reminding, our members ability to fight brush fires.  Brush fires need skills and training in not only pump operations, but other equipment skills such as chain saws, portable water tanks, and even generators for night time operations.  Fire line tactics and off-road water movement tactics will also be touched on.

This will also be our department's first official drill since starting our training program back up!!!

If bad weather or other unforeseen event were to take place to prevent us from doing an outside based drill, we will be substituting an air pack drill in it's place.

Pond Hill-Lily Lake Fire Company will be the location for an Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Fundraising Craft Fair/Vendor Show on June 7th.  There will be food, crafts, Chinese auctions, and much more including a bake sale!  The event is open to the public and will run rain or shine.

So come on out and support a great cause and have a good time as well!

People drive nearly everyday of their lives and sadly it has become one of the most dangerous activities for a person to do.  First responders are continuously improving their skills, techniques, and equipment to save lives during motor vehicle accidents, but no one has truly found a way to improve the situation when the victim is unresponsive or confused, until now.  When a responder can not place a name, medical history, or allergy list to the victim then all of a sudden common medical problems can be overlooked and life saving medicines can kill.

Recently PA rolled out it's "Yellow Dot" program.  This program is designed to give responders and emergency room staff the information they need when someone's world gets turned upside down.  The program is based not only around providing responders with patient information, but standardizing the delivery of the information with the markings to show that it is there to begin with.

We highly recommend this to all of our residents and are already training our members to recognize the markings and what to do if they see the "Yellow Dot".  This program is even more life changing for people who have medical conditions that may affect their mental status, such as diabetes, dementia, brain injuries, etc.

The program itself is free and the steps to sign up can be found on our website here: Click to visit our Yellow Dot Info Page

or our June training session, Pond Hill-Lily Lake ran a Dump Site drill that included setting up a single pond and dual pond dump site, supplying water between multiple ponds, and doing a dry run with a tanker.

What is a "Dump Site"?  During a large fire a lot of water is needed to either extinguish the fire or to simply control it.  This water is normally obtained via fire hydrants, directly out of local pools/ponds, or water tankers.  However during large brush fires other sources may be used, such as planes and relays.  The dump site is used mostly during rural fires where hydrants are not available or hydrants are not big enough for the fire.  It is generally one or two fire engines set up with one or more portable ponds and is the receiving point for water tankers or even a water relay system.  The dump site is directly responsible for supplying the fire apparatus (fire trucks) at the fire with the water when needed.

Our drill was focused on the setup of a dump site for both a single pond and dual pond setup.  Most residential structure fires and brush fires only use one pond, but larger buildings and commercial fires can need two or more.  The one pond setup is fairly simple and was done simply to setup and run, but the dual pump starts to get more complex with more operations being run at once.  Once the ponds where setup crews where explained and shown different ways of setting up the ponds and the reasoning behind it  After that a dry run was done by a tanker to show newer members the full cycle of a dump site.

We thank everyone who turned out for the drill as it was a great success and we hope our members walked away with more skills to use in the case of an emergency.

Around 11:00AM on August 10th, Pond Hill-Lily Lake Fire Company was dispatched for our Brush Tanker (our Heavy Brush Truck) to assist Mocanaqua's Fire Company with a large brush fire.  Once en route, crews realized that the fire was larger than a average brush fire as more and more units were being dispatched for response.  The fire itself was not only growing at a fast pace, it was also located down a nearly inaccessible access road.  Below is a list of units that we know were at the fire:

• 118 Mocanaqua Volunteer Fire Company
• 218 Pond Hill-Lily Lake Volunteer Fire Company
• 137 Hanover Township Fire Department
• 144 Hunlock Creek Volunteer Fire Company
• 158 Nanticoke Fire Department
• 163 Newport Township Fire Department
• 173 Sweet Valley
• 174 Salem Township Volunteer Fire Company
• 575 Shickshinny Area Volunteer Ambulance
• Berwick Medic 95
• Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR)

Our brush truck was primary assigned to provide water to other units due to our 1,000 gallon water tank, but was also used to provide fire line control at the same time.  The fire was located on the edge of a drop off and was working it's way both down the ledge and across.  Crews battled with the fire for over 7 hours with the harsh terrain providing little aid. While there were multiple minor injuries and heat issues with fire fighters, but EMS on scene was able to keep everyone taken care of and the Red Cross showed up with food and water.
 

Our brush truck providing fire line control at the start of the incident.

Providing water for 118 brush fire crews.

Filling Salem's brush truck.

Brush trucks from all over the area volunteered their time to provide manpower, equipment, water, and additional resources to try and contain the fire.

PA's DCNR crews arrived to aid volunteer crews in a dry, dusty environment.

Hills, cliffs, and rocky ledges allowed the fire to spread out of many responders reach.

Even areas that were accessible on foot were full of challenges.

There seemed to be an endless flow of water onto the fire, but the fire was still a challenge at every step.

After the fire crews were able to enjoy the great sights from the areas that whey prevented the fire from burning.

Our yearly donation drive has been sent out and should have arrived in your mail box a few days ago.  The funds from this drive go towards the running costs of our origination and will ensures that when you call 911 someone will show up.  Even the smallest donation can help keep your local fire company around and perhaps save not only your neighbors life, but your own as well.

Thank you for your continued support.

If you did not get a letter please contact a fire fighter, call the station at (570) 379-2204, or email us at support@pondhillfire.com