Firefighters deliver miracles

Volunteer first responders represent the very best of our communities.

The headlines, as they usually do, quickly go south when it comes to bad news.

After the horrific inferno that roared through the Barclay Friends Senior Living Center in West Chester 10 days ago, the slow, agonizing accounting started.

A day later it became apparent that not all the nursing home’s residents could be accounted for.

Last Monday afternoon, the worst was confirmed by Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan. Four residents were unaccounted for, and officials were not expecting good news. Among them were an elderly married couple, 89 and 92, as well as two other women residents, ages 95 and 93.

Officials from the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms started the grim process of sifting through the rubble.

Tuesday night came more bad news – and more bad headlines. Human remains were indeed found in the incinerated facility. It was soon followed by still more bad news, as the remains of two more victims were found Wednesday.

But what was all too quickly forgotten is something else Hogan talked about in his press conference.

Miraculously, 133 residents and 15 staff members made it out of that inferno alive. Keep in mind the logistics of what occurred in the mayhem that followed the first alarm that sounded about 10:45 p.m.

The fire is believed to have originated in a wing used for residents battling dementia. This was a senior center. These are not people who are especially mobile.

That became apparent when many of them were wheeled out of the burning structure still in their beds or wheelchairs. They did not get out on their own.

That’s the other part of this story that is at times overshadowed by the overwhelming sense of loss. In the midst of our grief, we tend to overlook the work of the men and women who were running toward the danger as everyone else was trying desperately to get away.

At one point, more than 400 first responders — many of them volunteers – were on hand battling the inferno at Barclay Friends.

The first units on the scene did not hesitate to run into the burning structure to aid staff in getting the residents out.

How difficult were the conditions that greeted them inside the inferno? Hogan explained how one volunteer could actually feel his helmet melting from the intense heat.

Think about that the next time you are safe and secure in bed and hear that fire alarm sound.

Know that there a lot of dedicated people, people who for the most part do not get paid, who are willing to answer that alarm.

Not only that, but they also undergo hours of training, all of it on their own time.

In the wake of the fire, Chester County Emergency Management officials said all that training paid off.

“They did what they’re trained to do,” said Chester County Fire Marshal John Weer. “Save lives and property – in that order.”

Hogan explained the difficulty of battling the Barclay fire, which was rapidly whipped into an inferno by high winds. He said under such circumstances it would not have been out of the question to lose 40 to 50 residents.

The fact that only four died was “mainly because of actions of the first responders that prevented that.”

“It’s a small miracle that we only have four unaccounted for,” added West Chester Borough Police Chief Scott Bohn.

The miracle continued in the days following the fire, again spurred by first responders.

Good Will Fire Co., led by President Ted Hartz, planned a donation drive for Sunday to collect items needed for the displaced residents.

It was not their first trip down this road. After the hurricanes that battered Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, Hartz founded a group called “Trucks2” that loaded tractortrailers full of supplies to help hurricane victims.

The first responders figured if they could do that for strangers, they certainly could do it for their neighbors. The community response was overwhelming, with hundreds inundating the fire company with supplies.

These volunteer first responders represent the very best of our communities. Their tireless dedication to serving the public too often goes unnoticed – until it’s needed.

Until that alarm sounds in the middle of the night.

That’s when we pray for miracles.

And these dedicated community servants deliver.