Warming Tent Helping Westmoreland Co.'s First Responders
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- When Washington Township firefighters arrived on the scene of a house fire on Beech Road Tuesday morning, they had to deal with a house fully engulfed in flames, live wires on the ground and bitter cold temperatures.
"The wind chill was close to probably minus 30," said Washington Township Fire Chief Dan Black.
Even in the worst conditions, firefighters still have to do their job.
"You try not to get wet; but you're spraying water, you're going to get wet, you ice up," said Chief Black. "So, it's always nice to have some place to go."
Thanks to Murrysville Medic One, firefighters had a place to get warm while battling the conditions.
Paramedics arrived and set up one of their mobile warming tents.
"I wouldn't want to fight that fire without that tent. Everybody had a place to go get warm," said Chief Black.
With instant heat inside and someone to check their vital signs, firefighters were able to fight the fire in shifts.
"I give them five minutes, 10 minutes and then send them down to rehab and then another crew comes in and we just rotated back and forth," Chief Black said.
Chief Black doesn't want to think about the conditions his men would have faced without the warming tent.
"My guys, they would have had to sit in the truck. They would have had no place to go," he added. "You probably could have had, especially last night, frostbite. That would have been a big one."
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