Just before 1AM, Dewey firefighters responded with Lower Saucon Township crews to the highway for reports of a multi-vehicle accident. Responding volunteers found one victim deceased on arrival, and a child in critical condition. Other victims were trapped in vehicles and needed to be cut free. Sadly, the second child died days later. Open alcohol was found in the vehicle in which the children were passengers.
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Hellertown firefighters responded to a late night fire in the basement of a home in town. Crews were able to quickly extinguish the fire despite challenging access to the basement, and spent some additional time checking for hotspots. The house had multiple residents asleep at the time of the fire whose lives were saved due to smoke detectors.
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Hellertown firefighters were dispatched with Lower Saucon Fire Rescue to a reported car under a tractor trailer. Responding crews found two victims heavily entrapped after colliding with a truck stopped on the shoulder of I78 E. Both victims were in critical condition and were extracted quickly by Hellertown and Lower Saucon firefighters using hydraulic rescue equipment.
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This large fire started as a routine automatic fire alarm dispatch. Lower Saucon fire officers arriving at Yiannis Taverna found that there was a major fire in the kitchen of the restaurant, and struck a second alarm. Dewey firefighters quickly responded, along with firefighters from several neighboring towns. Dewey firefighters assisted with extinguishing the fire and checking for hotspots.
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Late Saturday night, one of the largest fires in the Lehigh Valley in the past decade broke out at a deck restoration and cleaning facility. Fire departments from both Lehigh and Northampton counties responded to Fountain Hill to assist, with over a hundred apparatus on scene over the course of the night. Dewey firefighters were in the thick of the battle, fighting the flames as well as a lack of water supply, dehydration, the risk of chemical exposure, and a steep hill facing the side of the structure. One of Dewey’s volunteers was taken to the hospital after sustaining minor injuries when the roof of the structure partially collapsed.
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After Hellertown’s volunteers were called to a reported dog trapped in a hole, they arrived on scene to find a dog that had falled into a long forgotten and abandoned septic system. After some time strategizing on the best way to rescue the fallen pup, Hellertown Public Works was called to assist with a backhoe. A combination of machine and hand-digging got firefighters down to the holding tank, and one firefighter went down and grabbed a very friendly – and very happy – bulldog.
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In one of Dewey’s most technically challenging calls, volunteers worked with firefighters from Lower Saucon Township and other surrounding departments to rescue two victims in a vehicle which was crushed beneath a fully loaded tractor trailer. The heavily entrapped victims were freed after a grueling rescue that took over three hours in soaking rain and heavy mud, almost every tool from responding firetrucks, and the combined cooperation of many fire departments and heavy tow services. Incredibly, both victims in the vehicle survived.
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Dewey firefighters tackled a fire in a house on Cedar Road in Hellertown. Firefighters entering the burning home nearly fell through a burned out floor right past the front door, but were able to safely extinguish the fire. No one was injured.
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After a resident on Willow Road heard meows echoing from a storm drain, Dewey firefighters arrived on scene to assist in rescuing the fallen feline. Unfortunately, the kitten was only weeks old, and was very scared of the firefighters. Firefighters were forced to army crawl through a long, damp, cricket-infested tunnel under the road to access the nervous kitten. After the kitten was safely rescued, he was checked out by a vet and determined to be feral but in good health. Because of his young age, he was able to be adopted, and was named “Dewey”, in honor of the firefighters who saved him from the sewer.
In this tragedy there was a heartwarming twist. Dewey volunteers responding to a devastating house fire near Giant were able to rescue a guinea pig and a cat from the burning building. The cat was nearly unconscious when it was rescued, but after volunteers put a special cat oxygen mask on him, he recovered quickly. The fire was extinguished quickly after arrival.
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Dewey volunteers arrived on Saucon Street near the rail trail to find a home filled with thick smoke and extreme heat. After crews broke windows to release some of the smoke and heat, Dewey volunteers were able to find a large fire in a bedroom which was quickly extinguished, minimizing damage to the rest of the home. After checking for hotspots, crews also assisted the residents in rescuing some of their important possessions, including medications and paperwork, from the heavily damaged home. Two Dewey firefighters received minor burns, but thankfully, there were no major injuries.
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