On July 11, 2016 at 6:02pm the Coral Springs/Parkland CERT team was activated for a residential structure fire at 8690 Watercrest Circle West in the Watercrest community in Parkland. The call came in as heavy black smoke being reported. Rescue 109 being right outside the neighborhood and first on scene confirmed the smoke and declared a working fire. In addition to killing power, CSFD had to be careful to shut off gas as the entire neighborhood is piped for gas. The source of the fire is believed to have been in the garage. The Fire Department initially had to work around the closed garage door and 3 cars - 2 in the garage. After breaching the garage door they creatively pulled the cars from the garage via a truck mounted winch. This was a game changing move as it allowed crews better access from which to battle the blaze. While the home and three cars are believed to be a total loss, fire crews did an outstanding job keeping the fire as controlled as they did. It was believed mere seconds were the difference between being contained and a fully engulfed building. Another outstanding job by the brave men and women of the Coral Springs / Parkland Fire Department. The scene was also a test for the brand new Platform 80 truck which was put to use while Quint 80 was out of service for repairs. The new Platform 80 performed beautifully and it is an amazing and stunning new apparatus in the departments arsenal replacing the aging Quint and very old Platform.
The CERT team responded quickly with their canteen as well. They very quickly setup forearm cooling chairs, cold towels and their hydration stations. It was a blistering hot summer day to start with and the quick cooling and hydration definitely prevented some heat related injuries. Members supplied cases of water, gatorade and snacks as well as ice cold towels and special large cleaning wipes. The team also assisted with cleanup and hose pickup. The canteen team was there for approximately 3 hours. Department Chief Babinec gave the PIA (Post Incident Analysis) in which he thanked the CERT team for an outstanding job which was met by a round of applause and thanks from all the firefighters on scene.
Thanks to all the CERT members that responded. Our team is proud to volunteer to support our brave firefighters and we appreciate all of their support and acknowledgement for what we do.
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