Union Bridge Fire Company

FC Box 17-9. Crews quickly began to protect exposures on arrival and were successful by keeping the fire limited to the original structure. Photo: Capt. C. Harris

FC Box 17-9. Chief 9 "Safety" confers with FC Batt. Chief Tom Coe on the progress of the firefighters work. Photo: Capt. C. Harris

FC Box 17-9. Firefighters knocked a bulk of the flames down, then moved in to remove some of the tin to better access the burning hay. Photo: Capt. C. Harris

FC Box 17-9. The hay barn was within 15 feet of the nearest exposure. Firefighters did a great job by using the first hand lines to stop the fire spread. Photo: Capt. C. Harris

FC Box 17-9. Pulling Tin. The roof and side wall of the hay barn had to be removed so that firefighters could at least knock-down the flames. Photo: Capt. C. Harris

FC Box 17-9. After the FC Roads Dept. Gradall arrived, firefighters wet down the hay as it was removed from the pile. Photo: Capt. C. Harris

FC Box 17-9. The Gradall was able to remove nearly a ton of hay at a time. Firefighters applied water onto the "gripper" constantly to keep it cool. Photo: Capt. C. Harris

FC Box 17-9. As the pile was spread out, another crew on the opposite side of the Gradall applied water to the new piles, but hay is extremely difficult to extinguish completely. Eventually, a track loader came to the scene and the hay was buried in a nearby field. Photo: Capt. C. Harris


By Captain Christopher Harris
August 20, 2014

Frederick County Box 17-9. At 04:17 hrs., Station 8 and Station 10 were dispatched to assist Frederick County Fire/Rescue units for a building fire at 13249 Coppermine Road. Units responding were updated while enroute, that the building was a barn fire and the updated address was 13202 Coppermine Road. First arriving units confirmed that it was a 40' x 60' hay barn fire with multiple exposures and quickly began to protect those exposures to prevent the spread of fire to large barns. The incident command system was quickly established and as units arrived, officers on various units were assigned to different tasks such as "Water Supply", "Fire Attack" and "Safety". Additionally, a "Tanker Task Force" was dispatched to insure a constant water supply. Engine 81's crew assisted with the initial attack operations and remained on-scene for 6 hours doing various duties as requested by command staff personnel. Paramedic 89 was also on-scene to provide for firefighter rehab. The barn was completely full of hay, all of which had to be separated and moved away from the exposures. The Frederick County Roads Department provided a "Gradall" to assist in this work, as well as a private contractor from Libertytown. The hay was eventually placed into an adjacent field and buried. Engine 81 returned to station 11:06 hrs.

Units:	Engine 81, Paramedic 89

Mutual Aid:	Multiple Frederick County and Carroll County Companies