Fire Suppression

The primary reason for the establishment of a Hose Company in Greene Township was to mitigate the damage and harm caused by destructive fires in the community. To this day, Kuhl Hose continues it's original mission of fire suppression with 2 fire engines, 2 water tankers and 1 mini-pumper. While the role and responsibility of the department has evolved through the decades, Kuhl Hose still prides itself in delivering the most professional and effective fire suppression service to the community.

Many tasks are involved in firefighting but some of the ones we typically conduct are:

-Forcible entry, to gain access to secured structures or rooms where fire or victims may be.
-Search, for trapped or disoriented occupants of structures
-Rescue of victims
-Hoseline advancement, and extinguishment of the fire
-Ventilation, to get the bad gases out of a structure and fresh air in.
-Overhaul, to find and extinguish hidden fire.
-Salvage, to minimize damage and protect property once the fire is out.

And most important of all:
-Safety, to insure everyone goes home when the call is over.

Prevention/Education

The most successful fire is one that never started to begin with. That is why the members of Kuhl Hose spend many hours educating our residents, schoolchildren and visitors about the importance of fire prevention. Every fall department members conduct visits to the area elementary schools to showcase to teach youngsters the importance of fire safety. Along with teaching important concepts of Stop, Drop, and Roll, Craw Low Under Smoke, how to dial 9-1-1, firefighters familiarize children with the firefighting tools and apparatus.

In addition to making trips to the schools, the Kuhl Hose stations are periodically host to community groups such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, camps, kindergarteners who can see even more firsthand than just a classroom experience can offer.

 We have also gone one step further and held classes for community groups such as the Boy Scout First Aid merit badge and Webelos Ready Man Badge.

Wildland

With 1867.5 acres of state gamelans and a large amount of rural area in our 38 square mile township, the department is often required to respond to incidents far off road. To aid us in this task we operate a Type III min-pumper or "brush truck" to reach fires in wildland areas. In addition we stock various rakes, shovels, brooms, Pulaski Axes and Indian tanks that can be carried aboard our Class-A engines.

Rural Water Movement

Greene Township has no municipal water source (fire hydrants). To supply sufficient water for firefighting operations, we need to set up tender shuttle operations between a water source and the fire ground. This involves establishing a water source and using multiple tenders to continually supply portable tanks erected at the scene with water.

We rely on dry hydrants placed throughout the township, along with creeks, ponds and lakes. Unlike pressurized hydrants found in urban and suburban areas, dry hydrants do not contain a pressurized water supply. They consist of a pipe set into a body of water with a connection to hook hard sleeve hose which is used by the engine to "draft" or draw water up the pipe into the pump. Below are pictures of some of our dry hydrants. One just after installation and another which has been in service for some time.

Participating Department

The Pennsylvania Office of the State Fire Commissioner maintains the Participating Department program to encourage departments to train and certify their members to national standards. The NFPA standards for Fire Service Professional Qualifications identify the minimum requirements for a person at a particular level of progression. A person certified to one of the Fire Service Professional levels will have demonstrated competency in the knowledge and skills required to perform at a particular level. The service that can be offered to the citizens, visitors and communities of the Commonwealth will be enhanced by the professional competency attained through this certification process.*

In order to qualify for the program a department must have a minimum of 70% of their members certified at some level of national accreditation. Kuhl Hose currently has 12 members certified at levels of Firefighter I, Firefighter II, Rescue Technician, Driver/Operator, Fire Officer I, Fire Instructor I and Hazmat Operations.

Kuhl Hose has been recognized as a participating department since March 2007, the second organization in Erie County to receive this honor. This recognition must be renewed every 3 years and in 2010 we hope to attain and even greater level of recognition.

*Some text & information obtained from the PA OSFC website