Tommahawk
Member
Station 4-4 Local (Intercourse Fire Company)
0803032148
21 Mar 2008 06:34:53
DWELLING 2A
LEACOCK TOWNSHIP
227 OSCEOLA MILL RD / E NEWPORT RD
AIR-4-8
AMBULANCE-4-3-1
AMBULANCE-4-3-2
AMBULANCE-4-9
ENGINE-4-2-2
ENGINE-4-3-1
ENGINE-4-4-1
ENGINE-4-5-1
ENGINE-4-5-2
HOSE-4-3(E)
MEDIC-6-12-10(M)
MEDIC-9
RESCUE-4-2(R)
TANKER-4-1
TANKER-4-10-1
TANKER-4-10-2(T)
TANKER-4-3(T)
TANKER-4-4
TANKER-4-5
TANKER-4-9
TRUCK-4-2
Chief 4-4 on the scene reporting a working fire with individuals trapped on the 2nd floor, requesting 2nd alarm
UPDATE: From Lancasteronline.com: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/218597
By JANET KELLEY and RYAN ROBINSON, Staff
A Leacock Township couple died together in their bedroom early this morning as a wind-whipped fire consumed their rural Gordonville home around daybreak.
Emanuel B. and Sarah Zook, 227 Osceola Mill Road, just off of East Newport Road, near Intercourse, were found dead on the second floor of their gray house around 7:30 by rescue personnel.
Firefighters had been called to the scene an hour before when a neighbor spotted the flames raging from the Zooks' home and called 911 at 6:34.
Mr. Zook, 72, was a deacon in the Amish church, one neighbor said, recalling that he had seen the couple at church last Sunday.
He died beside his 69-year-old wife, Sarah, officials said.
Neighbors said the Zooks made wicker baskets in a shop behind their house. Baskets, they said, traditionally purchased and carried by young Amish women.
"They were always friendly," one neighbor said, adding that the Zooks "were always there for you when you needed them."
The Zooks were the parents of three sons, one of whom lives in Lancaster County and arrived to watch firefighters battle the early morning blaze. The other sons live in Honey Brook, Chester County, and Gratz, in Dauphin County, neighbors said.
"We are all in a daze this morning," another Amishman said, asking not to be identified. "It's hard to believe."
The cause of the fire is still under investigation by Trooper Brian Herr, a state police fire marshal.
But firefighters noted there were two stoves in the home and the blaze could have begun around or near a propane heater on the first floor of the home.
There was no estimate of the loss of the home and its contents, officials said, but one firefighter concluded the home was "totally destroyed."
Lonnie Kauffman, chief of the Bird-in-Hand Fire Company, said about 100 volunteers from about 15 local fire companies rushed to the scene this morning to offer assistance to the Intercourse Fire Company.
"There was heavy fire and visible flames on three sides of the building" when firefighters arrived at the scene, Kauffman said.
And, he said, there was a report that people were trapped inside.
Kauffman, who was acting as the public information officer this morning, said volunteers from Intercourse, Bird-in-Hand, Gap, Gordonville, Kinzer, Paradise, Ronks, White Horse and Witmer fire companies, battled stiff winds that fanned the flames ripping through the home.
The westerly winds, however, kept the fire in the home, Kauffman explained, rather than spreading the flames to a nearby horse barn and workshop.
At one end of the Zooks' home, the couple had built a one-story addition as a mother-in-law's residence, neighbors said. That addition was quickly consumed by fire as the blaze moved through the eastern portion of the home.
There were no other injuries and no problems for firefighters, Kauffman said, other than patches of ice on the farm lane.
Tanker trucks loaded water from nearby Pequea Creek, Kauffman said. A medical helicopter and ambulances were also initially dispatched to the scene.
Because of the extensive damage to the home, Kauffman said, it made for a "very dangerous environment," for the volunteer firefighters going inside the house to recover the bodies.
By 8 a.m. the fire was under control, Kauffman said, but smoke was still coming from the building.
Despite the bitter cold and wind, more than a dozen Amish neighbors consoled one another, clustering together as they gathered to watch the firefighting effort.
Mr. Zook had "a rough winter," with illness, one neighbor said, but seemed to be feeling better in recent days.
The home is about 300 feet back from the roadway, down a farm lane, surrounded by fields with a scenic overlook of eastern Lancaster County.
CONTACT US: jkelley@LNPnews.com or 481-6026
0803032148
21 Mar 2008 06:34:53
DWELLING 2A
LEACOCK TOWNSHIP
227 OSCEOLA MILL RD / E NEWPORT RD
AIR-4-8
AMBULANCE-4-3-1
AMBULANCE-4-3-2
AMBULANCE-4-9
ENGINE-4-2-2
ENGINE-4-3-1
ENGINE-4-4-1
ENGINE-4-5-1
ENGINE-4-5-2
HOSE-4-3(E)
MEDIC-6-12-10(M)
MEDIC-9
RESCUE-4-2(R)
TANKER-4-1
TANKER-4-10-1
TANKER-4-10-2(T)
TANKER-4-3(T)
TANKER-4-4
TANKER-4-5
TANKER-4-9
TRUCK-4-2
Chief 4-4 on the scene reporting a working fire with individuals trapped on the 2nd floor, requesting 2nd alarm
UPDATE: From Lancasteronline.com: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/218597
By JANET KELLEY and RYAN ROBINSON, Staff
A Leacock Township couple died together in their bedroom early this morning as a wind-whipped fire consumed their rural Gordonville home around daybreak.
Emanuel B. and Sarah Zook, 227 Osceola Mill Road, just off of East Newport Road, near Intercourse, were found dead on the second floor of their gray house around 7:30 by rescue personnel.
Firefighters had been called to the scene an hour before when a neighbor spotted the flames raging from the Zooks' home and called 911 at 6:34.
Mr. Zook, 72, was a deacon in the Amish church, one neighbor said, recalling that he had seen the couple at church last Sunday.
He died beside his 69-year-old wife, Sarah, officials said.
Neighbors said the Zooks made wicker baskets in a shop behind their house. Baskets, they said, traditionally purchased and carried by young Amish women.
"They were always friendly," one neighbor said, adding that the Zooks "were always there for you when you needed them."
The Zooks were the parents of three sons, one of whom lives in Lancaster County and arrived to watch firefighters battle the early morning blaze. The other sons live in Honey Brook, Chester County, and Gratz, in Dauphin County, neighbors said.
"We are all in a daze this morning," another Amishman said, asking not to be identified. "It's hard to believe."
The cause of the fire is still under investigation by Trooper Brian Herr, a state police fire marshal.
But firefighters noted there were two stoves in the home and the blaze could have begun around or near a propane heater on the first floor of the home.
There was no estimate of the loss of the home and its contents, officials said, but one firefighter concluded the home was "totally destroyed."
Lonnie Kauffman, chief of the Bird-in-Hand Fire Company, said about 100 volunteers from about 15 local fire companies rushed to the scene this morning to offer assistance to the Intercourse Fire Company.
"There was heavy fire and visible flames on three sides of the building" when firefighters arrived at the scene, Kauffman said.
And, he said, there was a report that people were trapped inside.
Kauffman, who was acting as the public information officer this morning, said volunteers from Intercourse, Bird-in-Hand, Gap, Gordonville, Kinzer, Paradise, Ronks, White Horse and Witmer fire companies, battled stiff winds that fanned the flames ripping through the home.
The westerly winds, however, kept the fire in the home, Kauffman explained, rather than spreading the flames to a nearby horse barn and workshop.
At one end of the Zooks' home, the couple had built a one-story addition as a mother-in-law's residence, neighbors said. That addition was quickly consumed by fire as the blaze moved through the eastern portion of the home.
There were no other injuries and no problems for firefighters, Kauffman said, other than patches of ice on the farm lane.
Tanker trucks loaded water from nearby Pequea Creek, Kauffman said. A medical helicopter and ambulances were also initially dispatched to the scene.
Because of the extensive damage to the home, Kauffman said, it made for a "very dangerous environment," for the volunteer firefighters going inside the house to recover the bodies.
By 8 a.m. the fire was under control, Kauffman said, but smoke was still coming from the building.
Despite the bitter cold and wind, more than a dozen Amish neighbors consoled one another, clustering together as they gathered to watch the firefighting effort.
Mr. Zook had "a rough winter," with illness, one neighbor said, but seemed to be feeling better in recent days.
The home is about 300 feet back from the roadway, down a farm lane, surrounded by fields with a scenic overlook of eastern Lancaster County.
CONTACT US: jkelley@LNPnews.com or 481-6026
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