Company 95 was dispatched to the 100 Block of E. Philadelphia Avenue at 0508 hours for a report of wires arching and a pole fire. Within minutes the call was upgraded to a Structure fire response due to the pole being within ten feet of a residence. As crews arrived on location there was an electrical explosion and the pole was burning at the top. Crews were evaluating the pole fire and noticed smoke coming from the right front corner of the roof of the residence. Met Ed was requested to expedite their response and crews from BAF&R, Eastern Berks Fire, Earl Township Fire and Gilbertsville Fire & Rescue began to work on a plan of attack to extinguish the structure fire safely due to how close it was to the live electric wires. Crews worked from a ground ladder on the exterior and went inside the residence to make sure there was no extension to the interior of the residence. Crews pulled the gutter and soffit down to get the fire extinguished. Met Ed arrived around 0700 hours and shut down power in the area and worked with crews to extinguish the pole fire. Once extinguished Met Ed then made some temporary repairs and turned the power on again allowing traffic signals to work again and BAF&R to clear from the incident around 0905 hours. Met Ed will need to replace the pole that was on fire.
Eastern Berks Regional Police worked with Fire Police to try to get Traffic Signals operating by Generator but the signals affected were not able to be hooked up to a generator. Boyertown Streets Department assisted with getting temporary stop signs in place.
