Photo Gallery

Events of Hurricane Sandy - Port Penn and Surrounding Districts

Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Over the 3 day span from October 28th-30th the Fire Department of Port Penn handled over 10 alarms including 1 Working Alarm in 6's local, a car in high water in 24's local along with numerous structure responses. Kicking off the storm we were dispatched to the 100 Block of Valerie Drive in the 6 Local for and Engine to assist on the working end of the row townhome fire. Engine 29 (Chief Speakman) with a crew of 5 made the response and arrived to find crews from Christiana, Delaware City, Newark, and Middletown working a basement fire with extension. Crews operated for over an hour before being released by Command (Deputy 6) after which we returned to resume preparations for the fast approaching storm. Not long after being back from the Engine Assist stations 4/24 and 26 were alerted for a motorist stuck in high water on Old Corbit Road just North of Old State Road. Upon making the response 24-8B requested 29 Marine units be added to the call, after making the response with MRU 29 (Asst Chief Stuckert) with 3 SWRT's 26 was cleared from the call. Upon arrival the victims had been removed by the personal from 4/24 leading the scene to be placed under control holding units. In the early morning hours of the 30th we received a call at the station from residents of Augustine Beach stating that they we being flooded by high water from the Delaware River. When Hurricane Sandy made the move across Delaware into Maryland and the winds began to shift and blow out of the south west this combined with an astronomical high tide caused a 12+ foot surge flooding the Village of Augustine Beach. The Delaware River had over taken the rock wall on Route 9 South of The Village, water was up to the houses and quickly rising leading of the evacuation of the Village. MRU-29 (Conrad) with 5 Swift Water Rescue Technicians arrived and report the above conditions to Command (Deputy 29 Newman) who was running the operation from the station. After assessment of the conditions 2 additional SWRTs were requested to assist in the evacuation of Augustine Beach. 29-8B arrived and was given a full report on the situation and took over the operations roll. A team from Station 1-5 arrived to assist with the task at hand. Additional Support was received from the Army National Guard that was staged at station 29 for the duration of the storm. They provided transport of the evacuated residents from the Village back to station 29 and eventually to the shelter set up at Middletown High School. This operation lasted in total over 4+ hours to complete, we would like to thank all the resources who helped make this play out so smoothly Army National Guard, Delaware City Fire Company, Delaware State Police and the members who staffed station 29 for the duration of the storm. For the 3 day duration of the storm there were at one time or another 23 members who gave their time instead of being home with their families and looking after their property to protect the citizens of the district and those surrounding it. Crews staffed Tanker-29, Engine-29, MRU-29 with 29M2, TSU-29 with 29M3, DO29 with EVAC Trailer and 29-8 as the overall operations commander. We had a total of 3 complete SWRT's in 3 different vehicles with a total of 4 Tech's on each of the vehicles. I want to personally thank each and everyone of you for taking the time and making this operation a complete success. Without your help we would not have been able to do what we did so flawlessly. The family's of the Members, Career Staff and Part Time Staff deserve the biggest thanks because without your support and allowance of your loved ones to be here for such a long period of time non of this would have been possible.

Engine Assist
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Car In High Water
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Augustine Ramp at the start of Sandy
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Augustine Ramp at the start of Sandy
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Augustine Ramp at the start of Sandy
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Preparing for Sandy's arrival
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Preparing for Sandy's arrival
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Preparing for Sandy
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Preparing for Sandy's arrival
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Crews during the storm
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Crews during the storm
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Preparing for Sandy
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Preparing for Sandy
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Army National Guard Rigs
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Rte 9 south of Port Penn
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Rte 9 south of Port Penn after the storm
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Worf Road
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Worf Road
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Worf Road
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W. Market Street
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W. Market Street
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Rte 9 north of Port Penn
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Augustine Beach the day after Sandy
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Augustine Beach the day after Sandy
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Augustine Beach the day after Sandy
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Augustine Beach the day after Sandy
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Augustine Beach the day after Sandy
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Augustine Beach the day after Sandy
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Rte 9 south of Augustine Beach
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Old Corbit Rd outside Odessa
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