For Making "An Incredible Rescue," Bucks County Firefighters Commended

NORTHAMPTON TOWNSHIP, PA — A crew from the Northampton Township Fire Company was publicly commended this week for making "an incredible rescue" during a fire that broke out in neighboring Newtown Township on the Fourth of July.

Newtown Fire and Emergency Services Chief Glenn Forsyth and a crew from Newtown attended a meeting of the Northampton Township Board of Supervisors on Sept. 28 to officially present Rescue 3 with a unit citation and to commend the firefighters for making the save.

On that hot summer day, firefighters were dispatched around 1:20 p.m. for a structure fire with entrapment on Nathan Court in the Newtown Gate development.

Rescue 3 had been on a call at Buck and Middle Holland roads when it heard the initial dispatch.

"I heard this voice come on the radio. It was Rescue 3's Lt. Cody Stoner. He said we're at Middle Holland and Buck would you like us to start in? With a call involving entrapment, we had them start in," said Chief Forsyth.

The Northampton crew was first on scene, arriving within three minutes of the call. Fire was blowing out of the side of the building. They immediately went into service, quickly putting up ladders and rescuing the homeowner from the piping hot roof of the building.

"Our career staff was also working, but we were coming from the township building. Rescue 3's response time cut our response time in half," said Forsyth. "They were able to make the save. They took a victim off of the roof. They did an incredible job," said the chief.

"It's nice to know that Rescue 3 is always there for us and I hope you know that our crew is always there for you," Forsyth told his Northampton Township fire service colleagues.

Northampton Township Fire Chief Adam Selisker added that the backbone of the fire service is its mutual aid system. "And it's important that each town helps each other all the time. That's how we respond to emergencies.

"We train, we train and we train. We never know when we're going to put that training to use," added Selisker. "Part of that training is making split second decisions. The split second decision that Lt. Cody Stoner made, mattered.

"They went, they took a guy off the roof, who by the way was getting burned. That man was in big trouble," said Selisker explaining the gravity of the situation. "That training, that split second decision mattered that day. And that's what we do. That's what we're dedicated to do. It's in our blood - us and Newtown and everybody else. We will always be there just like Rescue 3's crew was there that day," said Selisker.

The man rescued from the roof was treated on the scene for burns to his feet and the back of his neck and was transported to the hospital by the Newtown Ambulance Squad.

Responding companies included the Newtown Fire and Emergency Services, Northampton Township, Langhorne-Middletown, Yardley-Makefield,the Penndel Rapid Intervention Team and Parkland. Feasterville and Upper Makefield served as cover companies.

Firefighters were assisted on the scene by investigators Kevin Dippolito from Bristol Township and Tim Chamberlain from Yardley-Makefield.