Van Wert Co. Chapter

The Disaster Action Team was called to a barn fire just north of Van Wert just after 5 PM on July 23, 2009. 4 members of the team responded, with the ERV reaching the site just before 6 PM.

The Convoy Fire Department was the first responder, calling in mutual aid from the Van Wert Fire Department, the Scott Fire Department, and the Ohio City Fire Department, at one point having 35 personnel on site. The departments prevented the fire from reaching the home on the property, although the barn was destroyed and a smaller out building received burn damage. The fire fighters did save some small livestock that was kept in the barn.

After the fire was out, the departments called in Ron Dull Excavations to use some heavy machinery to move the debris of the barn. This enabled them to check the site for hotspots and make sure the fire was out much more quickly and certainly then trying to do the work by hand.

The DAT provided some welcome liquid refreshments to the firefighters, and also delivered some sandwiches that were donated to the firefighters by McDonalds at the Towne Center. The team remained on site until the fire fighters were packing up, returning to the garage at about 8 PM.

The Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) was sent out on the morning of May 21, 2009, but not to a disaster. Two members of the Disaster Action Team took the ERV to the Lincolnview Children’s Health Fair at 11 AM that morning. They joined people from the Sheriff’s Office and the local ambulance service showing 4th and 5th graders what was in the vehicles and how they are used.

The ERV was at the school for a couple of hours, as the various classes went around through all of the vehicles and learned about what they did.

The Disaster Action Team (DAT) was called out by the Convoy Fire Department to a house fire on April 1, 2009. The call was received just before 10:00 PM and three members of the team responded.

The fire was out by the time the team arrived, but it had left a great deal of smoke damage to the residence.  The Convoy FD made sure the building was safe while the DAT provided services to the residents, arriving back at the garage just before midnight.

The Disaster Action Team was called to a house fire in southern Van Wert County on the afternoon of March 21, 2009. Receiving the call at about 2:15 PM, 4 members of the team responded, reaching the scene just before 3:00.

The three responding departments, Ohio City, Mendon, and Middlepoint, had the fire extinquished and were working on clearing the scene. The warm spring afternoon made the liquid refreshments for the fire fighters very welcome. The DAT members also support to the family that lived in the house, helping them make various living arrangements because their house was badly damaged.

It was a busy afternoon for the fire departments, Middlepoint receiving a brush fire call not long after leaving the scene of the house fire, and some Ohio City units having to leave to respond to a different brush fire. The DAT remained on the scene until about 4:30 PM.

The Disaster Action Team was called to a house fire in Convoy at just after 5:00 AM on Sunday morning March 8, 2009. 2 members of the team responded and provided support to the Convoy Fire Department as they fought the fire and cleaned up afterward.

The Disaster Action Team (DAT) was called to an apartment fire in Van Wert at about 10:30 PM on February 28, 2009. 3 members responded, arriving on the scene at about 11:00 PM. The Van Wert Fire Department had extinguished the fire, but was still on the scene cleaning up and making sure there were no remaining hot spots.

The DAT remained on the scene providing support to the fire fighters and extending aid to the family that lived in the house.

Putting away equipment after the fire.

The DAT received a call at about 3:20 PM to assist the Paulding County chapter with a house fire in Grover Hill. 3 members of the DAT drove up in the ERV, meeting a 4th member who drove directly there.

Driving carefully over the icy roads, the ERV arrived just before 4:30 PM, finding that the firefighters from the four responding departments, Grover Hill, Paulding City, Scott, and Oakwood, had the fire out and were in the process of to cleaning up.

Some firefighters getting coffee and hot chocolate during clean up.

The DAT members quickly set up to provide hot chocolate and coffee to the firefighters and residents of the house, and got the residents into the warm ERV. The DAT remained at the scene, assisting the house residents and providing refreshments to the fire personnel, until everything was taken care of, arriving back in Van Wert just after 6 PM.

The DAT received a call for a garage fire in the Middlepoint area at just after 9:00 PM on January 26, 2009. 4 members of the team responded, arriving at the fireat about 9:50 PM.

Five area fire departments responded to the fire, Middlepoint, Ottoville, Delphos, Grover Hill, and Scott, with the Van Wert Fire Department standing by, but not needed. The five departments on the scene had the fire almost out by the time the team, with the garage destroyed, but managing to limit the damage to the attached house.

The DAT provided refreshments to the departments as they finished putting out the fire and packed up. They also gave the family a warm place to wait and any help they required until after 11:00 PM.

2 members of the DAT responded to a house fire in Van Wert on January 15, 2009. The fire was quickly extinquished by the Van Wert Fire Department, and the team members were able to quickly help the residents of the home.

The Disaster Action Team started the year early, with  a call from the Wren Fire Department at 2:00 AM on January 1st. 3 members of the team responded and reached the scene of the fire a little at about 3:15 AM.

2 Firefighters rest for a minute near the end of the fire.

The fire was mostly under control at that point, although the 4 departments that were there, Wren, Ohio City, Willshire, and Convoy, still had a couple of hours of work to do before they could finish up.

The members of the DAT served coffee, hot chocolate, and energy drinks, along with some snacks, to the members of the four departments, as well as letting them warm up inside the ERV until about 5:30 AM. They then headed back to Van Wert, hoping the rest of the year is much quieter.