Union Bridge Fire Company

Local Box 8-7. Engine 81 arrived to find a "Drilling truck well involved". Photo: Unknown

Local Box 8-7. The "Drilling Rig" portion of the truck is fully involved on arrival on E-81. Photo: Unknown

Local Box 8-7. E/T-82 approaching the scene after it reaches the 8th level (400' below grade) of the quarry. Photo: Captain C. Harris

Local Box 8-7. E/T-82 makes the turn at the 7th level. Photo: Captain C. Harris

Local Box 8-7. Engine 81 crew making the initial attack. Photo: Captain C. Harris

Local Box 8-7. Lieutenant Cody Green begins to deploy a 2" Heavy Attack Line off the rear of E-81. Photo: J. Fowler

Local Box 8-7. Engineer Mike Hess deploys and stretches an 1 3/4" Minute-Man Crosslay. Notice the position of the drilling rig (leaning left). Photo: J. Fowler

Local Box 8-7. As Lt. Green makes the first "hit" on the fire with the 2" Heavy Line, Engineer Hess pulls 100' of Supply Line in preparation for E/T-82's water. Photo: J. Fowler

Local Box 8-7. Chief Chad Green makes a "hit" on the fire from the opposite side of the burning drilling rig. Notice how the drilling rig has begun to lean to the right. Photo: J. Fowler

Local Box 8-7. As crews get into position to attack the fire, the drilling rig begins to lean to the right. Photo: J. Fowler

Local Box 8-7. After the application of foam, the fire is completely extinguished. Photo: J. Fowler


By Captain Christopher Harris
July 28, 2014

Local Box 8-7. At 11:30 hrs., Carroll County 911 dispatched Station 8 for a "Drill on Fire" in the quarry at Lehigh Portland Cement Company. Engine 81 responded, followed by Engine/Tanker 82 and Paramedic 89, since it was known that a "Drilling Truck" on fire would require more than 1000 gallons of water to extinguish. Initially, directions from CCECC 911 and calls direct from Lehigh conflicted, so Engine 81 went in by the Main Street Entrance while Engine/Tanker 82 went in by the Clemsonville Entrance. After a 6 minute response time into the 9th level of the quarry (450' below grade), Engine 81 arrived to find a "Drilling truck well involved". The crew quickly deployed an 1 3/4" Pre-Connect and a 2" Pre-Connect to begin the extinguishment of the fire. Engine/Tanker 82 arrived just after the lines were deployed and assisted with 'backing-up' the attack line crews and providing additional water supply. Safety became an issue early on since the drilling trucks tower had already begun to lean; first to the left, then to the right (viewed from the front of the truck); as the tires and hydraulic jacks began to give-way. As the fire was 'knocked-down', the 1 3/4" pre-connect was switched to operate as a foam line with 3% Aqueous Film Forming Foam (Class B: AFFF) due to the large amount of gear and hydraulic oil that was burning on and under the truck (multiple hydraulic lines had burnt through from the rigs drilling unit). At 11:56 hrs., Chief 8 advised the fire was out and that crews would be remaining on-scene for mop-up. A total of 3,000 gallons of water and nearly 15 gallons of AFFF was used to extinguish the fire. No injuries were reported, but the "Drilling Truck" sustained heavy damage to the 'drilling rig' and under chassis. Units returned to the station by 12:53 hrs., but it took another 2 1/2 hours to clean-up the apparatus, turn-out gear, hose and tools used to extinguish the fire. Check back later for more pictures of the incident. Update to this post is at 00:25 hrs 8/3/14.

Units:	E-81, E/T-82, PM-89, Utility 8-1