From our family to yours.  Wishing you a very safe and Merry Christmas.  Please remember all the emergency service personnel  as well as those men and women serving our Country abroad who will not be spending this holiday with their loved ones. 

Tonight, Santa Claus made a last minute stop to check on who's been good at Lima. While checking in with the crew, Santa noticed some kids going into the restaurant across the street, Casa Mia. The crew escorted Santa across Baltimore Pike and in to see all the good kids at Casa. After passing out some candy canes, collecting some wishes, and spreading some good cheer, Santa headed back to the North Pole to prepare for Christmas. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all from the officers and members of the Lima Fire Company!

A group of members spent the day at Penncrest  High School participating in the NAACP Health and Wellness Fair.  Students were able to take a first hand look at the day-to-day operations of the fire company and speak to some of the members who are graduates of Penncrest.  Students also had the opportunity to try on a full set of firefighter turn out gear as well as a first hand look at some of the life saving equipment carried on our apparatus.  Thank you to F/F Schultz, Perakis, Adams and D'Achille for your efforts.  Great job!

Attention members:  our annual sign-up for jackets, job shirts and long sleeve polo shirts is posted in the crew room.  Orders are being taken from now until Nov. 15th.  All orders must be paid in full by that time.  These clothing items make a great gift for Christmas, birthdays or any celebration and are only available to Lima Fire Company members.  Stop up the station and sign up today for yours!  Please contact F/F Oswald or F/T Schultz with any questions.   

Tonight we roll our clocks back 1 hour.  And while most of us will be looking forward to the extra hour of sleep,  some of us will spend an extra hour on duty tonight.  Firefighters and EMT's will be there, ready to respond, in the event of an emergency.  But there are simple ways to help prevent or reduce the severity of a emergency: using smoke and carbon monoxide detectors regularly in your homes and businesses!  And use them in the appropriate places.  Some detectors are wired directly into your building's power.  Others are battery operated.  It is important to know what type you have.  A good rule of thumb is to change those batteries every time you change your clocks.  If you are unable to change your battery, do not hesitate to ask a relative, friend or neighbor to assist you. 

For more information on smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, including what kind to buy and where to place them, see the link below.

Shortly before 6pm, Fireboard began receiving calls for a structure fire on the 100 block of Gradyville Road in Edgmont Twp (Co 64's local).  As the tones were dropping, additional calls began coming in reporting flames from a large home on the block.  Inbound units were alerted by a firefighter on location that the home was fully involved and reported vacant.  64-9 (Chief Montgomery) had crews establish a water supply and prepare for an extensive exterior operations.  Truck and Engine 69 made the response assisting with the suppression efforts for almost 2 hours until the fire was finally brought under control.  Thank you to Garden City Fire Co and Yeadon Fire Company for providing fire coverage for the 69 local while we assisted Edgmont Township. 

**Thank you to Dannon Voight Photography for the photographs**

The 69 house has been extremely busy over the past few months.  Aside from keeping up day-to-day operations at the station,  members also participated in the NJ Firefighter Convention in Wildwood, NJ,  the Father Mychael Judge Remembrance Walk in Manhattan, the Ronald McDonald House Plane Pull and now the Delaware County Fireman's Association (DCFA) Parade.  This year the parade was hosted by Tinicum Township Fire Company, station 48.  The members put in a tremendous amount of time making sure all the apparatus was ready and giving all of our equipment an inspection.  Their hard work paid off with 2 trophies.   Truck 69 took 1st place Best Appearing and Most Functional Tower.  Tac 69 took 1st place Best Appearing and Most Functional Engine.  Congratulations to all the fire companies who placed/participated in the parade and to Tinicum Township Fire Company for their hospitality. 

This morning a group of members from Station 69 joined forces with our brothers and sisters from Middletown and Lenni Heights Fire Companies to participate in the annual Ronald McDonald House Plane Pull.  Crews met early Sunday morning at Atlantic Aviation located on the outskirts of the Philadelphia International Airport.  The 20-person team raised over $3800.  The team got to meet and greet with the participants from the other teams as well as talk to some of the people who make Ronald McDonald House the great organization it is.  After that it was all business.  Crews put their all into 2 grueling rounds of pulling a 75,000+ pound plane.  Once the dust settled,  the "Middletown Township Fire Companies" team took a very respectable 3rd place out of 12 teams participating.  All who attended had a great time.  We will be back to help out next year for sure! 

Lima's bravest made the trek this morning to New York City to show support for New York's bravest and for the 9th Annual Father Mychal Judge Remembrance Walk through Manhattan.  Father Mychal Judge is a Chaplain with the FDNY who made the ultimate sacrifice, and is the first official victim, at Ground Zero on 9-11-01.  The Father Mychal Judge Walk of Remembrance takes place every year in New York on the Sunday before the 9/11 anniversary. It begins with a Mass at St. Francis Church on West 31st Street, then proceeds to the site of Ground Zero, retracing Judge's final journey and praying along the way.  This years' walk began with the dedication of a fire apparatus in Father Judge’s name, which will be donated to a fire station in Peru. The walk continued downtown, stopping at various firehouses and police precincts along the way to honor the memory of the emergency service personnel killed. There was also a stop at the New York City Fire Museum where the coat and helmet that Father Judge wore on Sept. 11, 2001 were blessed. The gear was recovered from the rubble of the World Trade Center and will be on permanent display at the Museum. Members from 69 were honored to be part of the color guard in the procession this year. It was also nice to see some old friends and familiar faces that day too!

Middletown Township will be adding a special "yard waste" pick up in September due to the recent damage caused by Hurricane Irene.   The extra pick up date will be Saturday, September 3rd.  The normal pick up on Wednesday, September 21st will still occur. Please click the "PDF" logo to see the following media release from Middletown Township or contact the Township building for more information.