West Deptford Firefighters Handle Multiple Major Incidents

West Deptford, N.J. — October 20 — Firefighters from West Deptford and nearby areas tackled a demanding series of emergency calls over multiple days, including a technical rescue, a barge fire, and two all-hands residential structure fires. 

The incidents demanded coordination between local fire departments, specialized response teams, and mutual aid companies functioning under varying conditions. 

On October 18, firefighters from several agencies responded to a vessel fire at the Port of Paulsboro in Paulsboro, New Jersey. The response team comprised Paulsboro, Gibbstown, East Greenwich, and West Deptford fire departments, the Gloucester County Hazardous Materials team, countywide foam assets, marine fire boats, the U.S. Coast Guard, Philadelphia Fire Department, and the Paulsboro Refinery Fire Department. Other departments moved teams to assist with keeping services running in areas hit by the prolonged response. 

Crews were kept busy by residential fires. Firefighters tackled a major house fire on October 18 at the intersection of Woodbury Terrace and Laurel Avenue in West Deptford. The evening of October 19 saw crews responding to a fire at a two-story house in the 1100 block of Harker Avenue. 

Arriving roughly four minutes after the start of the response, the initial crews managed to contain the Harker Avenue fire within about half an hour. No injuries were reported among firefighters. Three people received help from the American Red Cross, and investigators kept looking into why.  A technical rescue also formed part of the department's recent workload, although the available announcement did not provide the location, circumstances or assisting agencies for that response.