Massive fire Mermelsteins Cottage Fire, Rescue and EMS spent a good portion of Friday evening at a two alarm fire in Carbondale Township at the Mermelstein building. The building, located on Business Route 6, housed several businesses under one roof. The fire drew apparatus from three counties as water woes forced firefighters to shuttle water and draft from the Lackawanna River besides using the overtaxed hydrant system.  Rescue 51-2 was assigned to the tanker fill site on near Meredith St. Three EMS crews stood by at the fire scene and helped out with rehab working side by side with Rehab 59. Crews from Forest City EMS and Archbald EMS also assisted by covering calls from our main station.  Rescue 51 served as the command post, provided cascade and scene lighting. Crews remained on the scene until after 02:00 hours on Saturday. Chief 62 (MacDonald) had command while Chief 60 (Wahy) had operations. EMS Lt.51 (Bifano) ran the EMS sector.
	A special thanks to the hard working crew from Rehab 59 for all their help, as well as the paid staff members who stayed well past the end of their shifts, both helping at the fire scene and covering other EMS calls. At 0600 hours, the first alarm assignment went out at the same location for the re-kindle. R51 and R51-2 were the first to arrive to find fire in the wall on side B. The crews stretched a line and put a knock to the fire. Ladder 58, Engine 60 and Squad 62 arrived a short time later and all the hot spots were hit. Crews remained on scene for another 2-3 hours. On the assignment: R51, R51-2, 51-9, 51-8, 51-7: ENGINES 60, 43, 51, 24, 20, 59, 58-3 LADDERS: 51, 58, 20, 43 RESCUES: 59, 36, 25 SQUAD: 62 REHAB: 59 EMS: 59-9   TANKERS: 60, 15, 36, 24, 18, 28, 2, 14, 63 EMA: 35 COMPANIES MOVED: 61, 26, 75, 22, 5, EMS 21, Forest City EMS  PhotoslScranton Times
	MCI trailer goes to Scranton On Monday, October 8th the MCI trailer was put into service for an incident in the City of Scranton.  As the call unfolded the Cottage crew prepped the trailer and advised Lackawanna Co. of our status.  We were asked to "head down, await further instructions."  With a crew of 4 the trailer made it to the Keyser Oak shopping center before being canceled by EMS command.
	Rescue/EMS run Labor Day 2 alarm fire photo courtesy of 59fire.com At 0705 hrs the Carbondale FD and Cottage EMS were sent to Gilbert Street.  Fire units to find the working for a residential fire.  A second alarm drew the Rescue and additional EMS units from Cottage.  The Rescue was assigned to rehab duties while the EMS crew, under the command of 51-90 (Bohlig), provided the EMS standby.
	61 dedicates memorial,  recognizes Cottage On Saturday, September 15th Station 61 (Grattan Singer) held a silent night parade followed by the dedication of their Fallen Firefighters Memorial at their station. The memorial is dedicated to Fire, Rescue and EMS personnel who lost their lives in the line of duty. Following the ceremony, awards were given out, including a special recognition award to Cottage for it's continuous support to Station 61. Lieutenant Joe Unis Jr. stated, "It was important for us to recognize the members and staff at Cottage for all their hard work and dedication, including providing training to and training with our members. We look forward to continuing to work with you guys." Cottage Captain Jim Pettinato and Rescue Officer were on hand to receive the awards. Cottage also took home the trophy for "Best Appearing Company" in the parade awards. We at Cottage sincerely thank the members and officers at Station 61 for the recognition.
	Gordon Avenue crash On August 7th, 51 Rescue, EMS and CFD rran this crash. E51  found a patient entrapped in a vehicle that struck a tree. As the Rescue arrived the engine crew was using a halligan bar to try to force the driver's door.  The patient was quickly extricated and handed over to Cottage ALS with significant injuries. The Rescue crew helped with hazard control and scene clean up and were clear in about an hour.

Cottage places Mass Casualty trailer into service
Cottage Hose Ambulance is pleased to announce that it has placed into service a Mass Casualty Incident Response Unit. The unit was purchased by Lackawanna County's Emergency Management Agency using a Homeland Security grant and was turned over to Cottage. It is now owned and operated by Cottage exclusively.  It is only one of two in Lackawanna County, the other being operated by Blakely Community Ambulance. The trailer is equipped with supplies to treat up to 50 patients.  It also has a 5000 watt portable generator, two portable tripod lights and incident command supplies.  Cottage has added ALS supplies to the large quanity of BLS supplies already in the trailer. In total the trailer has over 3000 separate medical supplies.  The trailer will service an 8 county region, but may be called anywhere. 

Cottage MCI trailer called to service
Less than 2 weeks after placing our new Mass Casualty Incident Response Unit into service it was requested along with a number of other emergency services to standby for a possible "airport emergency" at the Scranton / Wilkes Barre International Airport.  Cottage volunteers quickly assembled and prepared the trailer for the response.  Thankfully the airplane, which has landing gear difficulties, landed safely and all units were returned.  See more from WYOU. 

Rescue Engine 51-2 placed out of service, replaced  by new unit Click on photos to enlarge
On Saturday March 3, 2007, the "original" Rescue 51-2 was loaded onto a flat bed truck to be hauled to sunny Florida.  The truck was sold to a collector a few weeks ago.   Over the few years that the 1969 American LaFrance was in-service it was used as a backup to Rescue 51 and even caught a few working fires. 

BUSY YEAR FOR COTTAGE
Visit 2006 in review...

Earlier news
COTTAGE MEMBERS / STAFF COMPLETE ITLS COURSE
Cottage Rescue / EMS assist Fell Twp. Fire with Fire Prevention Week
New equipment on Rescue 51, members outfitted with new TOG
Cottage Paramedics attend seminar, meet JEMS editor
Check out our video

For Emergency, Non-emergency and Wheelchair transportation call:
(570)282-4649
Cottage Hose Ambulance
provides Basic Life Support and Rescue services
to the City of Carbondale, 
Carbondale Township and  Fell Township. 
We also provide Advanced Life Support to over 20 surrounding 
communities with our Paramedic Services.

Copyright 2007 Cottage Hose Ambulance