At 0344 hours on September 18th, the Avondale Fire Company was alerted, along with Po-Mar-Lin, Kennett, Cochranville, and Longwood Fire Companies to assist West Grove Fire Company on a reported barn fire in the area of Gap Newport Pike (Route 41) and Mosquito Lane in London Grove Township. West Grove units had just returned to their station in West Grove Borough from a working house fire in Oxford Fire Company’s local.

Engine 23-2 and Tanker 23 responded quickly after the dispatch. Ladder and Tanker 22 arrived in the area and reported they had visible fire and were attempting to determine the best access. Both the Ladder and Tanker made access onto the SECCRA (Southeastern Chester County Refuse Authority) Landfill Property on Mosquito Lane and reported that two out of three box trailers were fully involved in flames.

Engine 23-2 arrived as the first due engine and pulled two 1 ¾” attack hand-lines to extinguish the fire. After the fire was knocked down, Ladder 22 went in service with its ladder pipe to extinguish hotspots that the hand-lines couldn’t reach and to break up the burning recyclable materials that were inside each trailer. SECCRA was notified and arrived on-scene to remove the trailers. The trailer that wasn’t affected by the fire was hauled off while the two trailers that were affected had extensive overhaul performed by Avondale and West Grove crews.

SECCRA brought a backhoe to the scene and pulled the burning material out of each trailer so crews could extinguish any material that was still actively burning. Both trailers were then flipped on their sides so crews could confirm that the fires were extinguished.

Both Avondale and West Grove crews cleared the scene around 0630 hours.