Sunday July, 8 2012 @ 21:06:58

Nature: Structure Fire

Address: 33105 Serenity Cir Millsboro, DE 19966

On Sunday evening, July 8th, during a severe thunderstorm watch, the Indian River Volunteer Fire Company was alerted for a structure fire at 33105 Serenity Circle in the Peninsula off of Bay Farm Road.

Emergency incident response included: Ladder 80, Engine #80-1, and Rescue 80 from the Oak Orchard facility and Engine #80-3 and Engine #80-5 from the Long Neck facility.

Emergency response crew assignments included to investigate the reported incident and determine the severity of the issue. It was identified that the homeowner had extinguish actual fire and identified an odor of propane within the residential structure.

The incident command functionalities were coordinated by Chief Steven C. Deery, Jr. who requested Engine #80-1 and Engine #80-3 to investigate the incident, disconnect the propane gas service, ventilate the structure, and mitigate all concerns.

It appears that the incident was result of a potential lightning strike causing a brief fire and impacted the propane gas lines.

The property owner was apprised to have the gas lines evaluated prior to reconnection and will have to mitigate some damage to the interior walls and insulation.

While investigating this incident, Chief Deery continued to smell smoke and potential fire; however, this current residential location was not the origin of the concern. Upon additional evaluation, Chief Deery located a neighboring residential structure with smoke pouring from the eaves and notified the Sussex County Emergency Operations Center that an actual working alarm was present in the unit block of 33199 Serenity Court.

Chief Deery transferred incident command for the initial incident and mitigated the second alarm concern.