Station 64 (White Valley VFD) was dispatched by Westmoreland 911 at 6:50 PM for a generator smoking at Murrysville Rehabilitation and Wellness Center within Station 20’s (Murrysville VFC) district on Logan Ferry Rd. Engine 64 went enroute with (4) firefighters on board and Service 64 with (2) firefighters on board. Captain 20 arrived on scene first and took command of the scene reporting smoke conditions from the rear of the building at the location of the generator. Truck 20 then went enroute and arrived on scene setting up at the front of the facility and Engine 20 to the rear. All fire personnel were requested to stage in the parking lot of Station 20 and Station 610 (Murrysville Medic One) Assistant 20 arrived on scene and took command. Once on scene Assistant 20 requested Station 78 (Sardis VFC) to bring their Engine into the scene and establish a supply line from the fire hydrant to Engine 20 as crews would begin to shut off the power to the building. Director 610 was on scene and took charge of all EMS/patient operations as Incident Command. Director 610 then had order a full evacuation of the building for the safety of the patients and work staff inside. Director 610 then requested Westmoreland 911 to activate Station 225's (Penn Township Ambulance Service) Mass Casualty Response Trailer to respond to the scene to assist with extrication of all 103 residents. Once the supply line was established Assistant 20 then requested all other fire personnel in staging to report up to the structure. Engine 64 then transported the crew from Service 64 into the scene and crews began to assist Station 20. One firefighter from Station 64 assisted another firefighter from Station 20 with operating the blitz gun to attempt to cool down the generator. After dumping water onto the generator, firefighters managed to bring down the temperature from over 500 degrees to 105 degrees with minimum smoke coming off the generator. The generator was then leaking transformer fluid and due to the amount of water dumped on the generator, the water flow was then pushing the transformer fluid down the driveway towards the drains and creek. Crews then quickly began to grab booms (tube used to cause a wall or dam to prevent the hazardous materials from flowing further) and pads to soak up any of the hazardous materials. Crews then set up pads and booms around all drains down hill and near the bridge on Logan Ferry Rd. and Sardis Rd. to prevent the fluid from enter the creek. Assistant 20 then requested Chief 800 (Team 800's Hazardous Materials Response Team Chief) to the scene for evaluations and DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) for the fluid that had entered into the drains. Murrysville Police Department then arrived to assist with traffic control by shutting down Logan Ferry Rd. And Sardis Rd. Intersection. EMS crews then set up a method of transportation for all residents to transport them to one of Murrysville's designated shelter locations due to the fact that there would be no power at that facility for an estimated time of 4 hours minimum. EMS agencies were brought in from Allegheny, Fayette, and Westmoreland counties to assist with the relocating all patients. Fire personnel then assisted with loading patients into ambulances and buses to get them transported to another shelter location. Once the power was restored to the facility, fire personnel then entered the building to monitor it for any hazardous conditions. Once the building came back clear, all patients and staff were brought back to the facility and firefighters assisted with moving them from the ambulances and buses back to their respective rooms within the facility.
All responding fire companies were: White Valley VFD, Murrysville VFC, Sardis VFC, Holiday Park VFC, Westmoreland County Hazardous Materials Response Team
All responding EMS agencies were: Murrysville Medic One, Penn Twp. Ambulance, Mutual Aid Ambulance, Life Stat Ambulance, Fayette EMS, Monroeville #6 EMS, Rosteaver/ West Newton EMS, North Huntingdon Twp EMS, Sewickley Twp EMS, Eureka Fire/Rescue, Murrysville EMA, WCEMSC Mass Casualty Trailer, SMRT
All other agencies that assisted were: Murrysville Police Department, Westmoreland EMA (Emergency Management Agency), DPS (Department of Public Safety), 911 EMS dispatcher and 911 Supervisor, DEP (Department of Environmental Protection), and WestPenn Power