02/13/2026 – At 0721 hours Station 95 along with mutual aid partners were dispatched to Douglass Berks Township in the unit block of Sunset Drive for a reported structure fire. Reports were a furnace on fire in a building not attached to the main residence. Engine 95-1 arrived first and encountered a very long and steep driveway to access. Upon arrival on scene, Assistant 95-2 reported an approximately 40’ x 40 out-building well involved and already collapsing.
Personnel attacked the bulk of the fire to prevent spread to adjacent structures. Eastern Berks Engine 97 arrived and backed in the long driveway and reverse laid a 5” supply line to the main roadway and fed Engine 95-1 using a tanker shuttle. As more personnel arrived additional lines were deployed to attack the fire and also pull apart the metal shell to expose a large fire load of wood. The building was used as an outdoor furnace to heat the main residence and hot water. The homeowner arrived and offered his services of a front end loader to assist with overhaul and working the large pile of wood in storage and burning.
Additional manpower was requested to assist due to the personnel working in below freezing temperatures. After extensive overhaul, the original fire building was a total loss but due to the efforts of all personnel on the scene, we were able to prevent the spread to the main residence and adjacent structures less than 20’ away.
While operating at this call, additional mutual aid companies were dispatched also in Douglass Township for an automatic fire alarm, that was determined to be a fault in the alarm system causing the activation. Boyertown Area Fire & Rescue would like to thank all the mutual aid companies for both incidents and also Boyertown Community Ambulance for standing by at the fire scene and lastly the Douglass Berks Road Crew that came and salted the roadway and driveway that had frozen due to the water and extreme cold. The incident was cleared and the company was available at 1130 hours.
