Sunday July, 8 2012 @ 21:06:58

Nature: Structure Fire

Address: 33105 Serenity Cir Millsboro, DE 19966

Sunday July, 8 2012 @ 21:25:21

Nature: Structure Fire

Address: 33100 - 33199 Serenity Cir Millsboro, DE 19966

On Sunday evening, July 8th, during a severe thunderstorm watch and while mitigating another alarm on Serenity Circle in the Peninsula off of Bay Farm Road, Chief Deery continued to smell smoke and fire; however, this current residential location was not the origin of the concernbeing addressed.

Upon additional evaluation, Chief Deery located a neighboring residential structure with smoke pouring from the eaves and notified the Sussex County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) that an actual working alarm was present in the unit block of 33199 Serenity Court.

Chief Deery transferred incident command for the initial incident, mitigated the second alarm concern, and immediately had a box alarm announcement sounded via EOC.

This alarm process upgraded the incident, requested additional manpower and equipment resources from Millsboro (83); Lewes (82); Rehoboth (86); Dagsboro (73); with standby cover up assignments from Georgetown (77) and Milton (85). Additional response was initiated from the Delaware State Fire Marshal; the Sussex County Paramedics as well as the local emergency medical service provider.

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 as well as many support service entities from the aforementioned companies.

Emergency response crew assignments included to investigate and identify the origin of the issue, commence with fire suppression tactics via interior residential attacks, as well as set-up and operate the ladder for potential aerial stream operations if needed. Coordinate all efforts to disconnect utility and propane services to the residential structure. Identify and determine the severity of the issue.

The incident command functionalities were coordinated by Chief Steven C. Deery, Jr. who requested Engine #80-3 to depart the earlier alarm location and access the hydrant, supply Ladder 80 with water resources and initiate fire suppression lines for mitigation of the incident pending arrival of other apparatus.

It appears that the incident was result of a potential lightning strike causing a fire within the floor joist areas of the residential structure. The entire interior of the residential structure suffered smoke, heat and potentially water damage as a result of the fire.

The Delaware State Fire Marshall is investigating.

The Delaware State Fire Police were present to assist with scene preservation and crowd control.

There were no civilian or firefighter injuries.

Additional information may be obtained by viewing the following webpages:

•  WGMD Radio 92.7 – www.wgmd.com

http://www.wgmd.com/?p=62770

UPDATED: Storms leave damage through Central Sussex

UPDATED – 11:30pm - Storms moved through the center of Sussex County just after 9pm from Laurel through to the beach areas.  There were calls for wires down in Laurel at  Bethel Road & Hopkins Street and West 9th Street.

Fire crews from Indian River, Millsboro, Dagsboro, Georgetown, Milton, Rehoboth and Lewes are on the scene of a structure fire at the Peninsula on Serenity Circle

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UPDATED 6:20 PM:The National Weather Service has trimmed the Severe Thunderstorm Watch box that includes Delmarva. Kent and Sussex Counties are no longer included in the watch. However, the Eastern Shore of Maryland still is.

ORIGINAL STORY

The National Weather Service has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 10 o’clock tonight for all of Delmarva.

The watch includes Kent and Sussex Counties in Delaware, along with Wicomico, Worcester, Somerset, Caroline and Dorchester Counties on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

The watch was issued earlier this afternoon because a cold front is moving through a hot, humid airmass that covers both the Mid-Atlantic and the Midwest. This front will kick off thunderstorms that contain heavy rains, damaging winds, frequent lightning and possibly hail larger than three-quarters of an inch in diameter. This front will break the week-and-a-half long heat wave that has been roasting the Mid-Atlantic, and bring cooler temperatures to the region beginning on Monday.