Over the past two weeks, members of both The Lionville Fire Company and West Whiteland Fire Company have conducted our annual hazardous materials refresher training.

The class concluded last night with a scenario-based training session. As part of the scenario, Lionville and West Whiteland were "dispatched" for an outside gas leak. While responding, supplemental information indicated that a digging crew struck a natural gas line with a backhoe, that had resulted in a leak, along with a worker who had collapsed next to the backhoe.

Responders arrived to find a digging site with a vapor cloud, along with a subject down. Crews used air monitoring meters to check the conditions and establish safety zones for emergency personnel. An entry team was established, and crews utilized hose lines to both provide protection for the rescue team and conduct vapor dispersion which is the process of lowering the concentration of vapors by spreading them out and were able to rescue the victim.

Lionville Volunteers train every Thursday night on a variety of different topics to ensure that we can respond to and mitigate any potential emergency incident.