‘All-hands-on-deck’: Crews rescue 2 people trapped inside burning home

Lancaster County first responders saved a bariatric patient, who is bedridden, and his caregiver who were trapped inside a burning home Thursday on Bethel Boat Landing Road, officials said.

Two volunteer firefighters got to the scene and spoke with the caregiver through a window to walk them through how to seal the room off from the smoke that was filling up the home.

The window was too small to get the patient out to safety.

Crews managed to quickly ventilate the home to clear out some smoke.

Meanwhile, another firefighter got into the home through the window and shared his self-contained breathing apparatus with the patient until the fire was contained and the smoke had cleared, officials said.

The two people inside the home probably would not have survived if the fire wasn’t extinguished so quickly, said director Darren Player, with Lancaster County Fire Rescue.

“As incident command on this fire, I have never been more proud to be a part of Lancaster County’s Public Safety team,” Player said. “Every individual on that scene – firefighters, sheriff’s deputies, EMS paramedics, and EMTs – had one goal in mind and that was to safely rescue the occupants. And that goal, because of all their hard work and coordinated efforts, was achieved.”

Player said it was an all-hands-on-deck situation and was thankful for everyone at the scene.

Multiple agencies responded including Lancaster County Fire Rescue, Bell Town, Gooches, and McDonald Green volunteer fire departments. They were assisted by Lancaster County EMS and the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office.

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