| At 1354 hrs the St. Lawrence County Central Dispatch dropped the tones for a mutual aid call to the DeKalb Junction Fire Department for a barn fire that had spread to the surrounding field. Rescue 1 responded with 8 personnel along with a number of personnel responding directly to the scene. The Canton contigent arrived to find several other departments already engaged in the battle to get ahead of the flames. The barn had been completely destroyed so all efforts were directed at containing the out of control field and brush fire before it entered the woods. Rensselar Falls Rescue was pressed into service to treat an exhausted firefighter as the temperatures approached 90 degrees. An ambulance from Canton Rescue was requested to the scene due to the extreme heat, the number of personnel operating and the distance to the nearest hospital. Shortly after arriving, the Canton ambulance transported a Gouverneur firefighter to the hospital with an ankle injury while Rensselaer Falls Rescue was treating a Canton firefighter for heat exhaustion. Additional ambulances from Canton and Gouverneur Rescue were requested to the scene.
Firefighters were successful in preventing the fire from entering the woods howver they could not stop the rapidly advancing fire from entering a brushy, swampy area. The terrain made the firefight much more labor intensive. Brush trucks from Richville, Hermon, Gouverneur, and Morley Fire Departments were operating on scene. Overall there were 7 fire departments and 3 rescue squads with over 70 personnel operating at this fire. St. Lawrence County Car 4, Deputy Coordinator Dale Gardner, was the county representative on scene, covering for Car 2, Dep. Coord. Marty Hassett, and assisted the incident commander from DeKalb Junction Fire at the command post. Thirty six members of Canton Fire and Rescue responded to this call, either to the scene or to stand-by at Canton Station.
A total of two firefighters were transported to the hospital with several more treated and released on scene for heat exhaustion and dehydration. All Canton units were back in service at 1831 hours. |
