Sterling Volunteer Fire Company

Interested in becoming part of our family? Come up for our orientation session on Monday August 18th at 7pm at fire station 18 (46700 Middlefield Drive). E-mail membership@sterlingfire.org or click the “JOIN SVFC!” button to the right for more info.

On the evening of July 17th, the Loudoun County Fire, Rescue and Emergency Management hosted their Spring Graduation Ceremony. On this evening, Sterling Fire graduated 2 firefighter one students, 2 firefighter two students, 3 basic emergency medical technicians, 1 enhanced emergency medical technician, and 2 command school graduates.

At approximately 4:30am on Thursday morning, July 17, a Sterling man struck a large tree while driving his vehicle on Potomac View Road. Duty Crew 1 on Engine 18 responded and quickly upgraded the response after they arrived on scene to find the driver trapped severely inside the heavily damaged car. The duty chief, additional ambulances and the heavy rescue squad from Sterling Volunteer Rescue were added to the call.

The crew on Engine made quick work of cutting back the mangled car and gained access to the patient about the time the heavy rescue arrived on scene and started to set up. Unfortunately, the paramedics on scene determined that the patient had succumbed to the injuries.

The accident scene was turned over the Sheriffs Department and their accident reconstruction team.

Sunday was a quiet day in Sterling, which is a good thing for those we serve. It also allowed Crew 5 to spend some time training. The crew of Engine 618 attended a leadership seminar at station 18, and the crews from Engine 611 and TowerLadder 611 went to Park View High School to train new members on the operation of the tower bucket and to help other members keep their skills fresh.

TL611 flowing water

E611 supplying TL611

Crew 4 broke up the doldroms of Sunday afternoon haricuts in the fire station with a call to assist the Sheriffs Office with a vehicle into a structure. After arriving on scene, they discovered a small car that had run up over the curb and into the patio doors of a ground floor apartment. Luckily, the occupant was out walking her dogs at the time and no one was injured. The lads from Crew 4 checked the intergrity of structure and closed up the hole with some plastic after the car was towed away. Another job done.

Just before 4:00am on Monday morning Engine 618 was alerted for a car fire on Sandstone Square. They arrived to find a burning car parked between two other cars. The driver charged the line and the engine officer protected the other cars while the firefighters geared up to attack the burning car directly. The driver was able to capture a few photos once the water was flowing.

Photos by: Tech Tim Duckworth

At approximately 3:15pm on Saturday, June 28th units from Leesburg, Ashburn, Sterling, Hamilton, and Loudoun County Fire Rescue were alerted for a house fire in Leesburg. Wagon 618 and Chief 611 responded from Cascades. Units from Leesburg arrived on scene and reported heavy fire showing. The first units found heavy fire in the rear of the home and began to attack the fire there while other units prepared to make an interior attack. Due to fire conditions in the rear and danger to surrounding structures units were pulled from the structure and an exterior attack was initiated. A second alarm was requested, bringing Wagon 611 from Sterling Park. More details and pictures can be found here.

The crew from W618 awaiting an assignment from command

Members of the Sterling Volunteer Fire Company and Loudoun County Fire Rescue spent the day learning about the new Quint 618 from the manufacturer. In the morning they learned about the safety features and functionality of the unit. The afternoon was spent applying the morning lessons and learning about the capabilities of the new Quint. In the next few weeks the truck will go through a final maintenance check and be outfitted with tools, radios, hose, etc. It will then be placed in service and begin answering calls. Look for it in the community and be sure to stop by and see how your donations are serving you.

Photos by Capt Bill Roman

Chief Jon Starling operating the outriggers

A demonstration of the strength of the outriggers

Once again the Sterling Volunteer Fire Company, with help from the Sterling Volunteer Rescue Squad and the Cascades community, hosted a successful race on Saturday, May 24th. The weather was great, and we had the largest turnout yet, with 1102 runners participating. Feedback from participants and the community has been positive, and the members of the company are thrilled with the success of the race. It also provided a unique opportunity for training. The event was treated as a major incident and the resources were brought in to handle it. Loudoun County Fire and Rescue brought in their mobile command post and it was staffed with career and volunteer personnel who managed the race. This allowed everybody to better understand how a large scale incident works in the real world and better prepared us for facing the real thing, should it ever be needed.

For more details about the race and results, visit Run Washington here.

Pre race coverage and information about the Sterling Volunteer Fire Company’s involvement visit the Cascades Connection here.

A post race overview is available from the Loudoun Easterner here.

Sunday, May 25 - Duty Crew 3 ended their shift with a last minute call for a townhouse fire at 0620hrs. The previous night homeowner noticed that his bathroom exhaust vent fan had overheated and caught fire. He attempted to exitinghish the fire with his home extinguisher. The homeowner thought that this worked and went to bed. When he woke up, he had smoke in his house and a small amount of fire in the walls of his bathroom.

The first arriving units from Sterling discovered a moderate amount of smoke coming from the roof and eaves. Once inside, they found fire in the attic and in all of the walls around the bathroom. A little bit of opening the walls and pulling some ceilings made putting the fire out easy work for the hose crew.

The fan appeared have been extinguished by the home owner the night before but he did not get the deeper seated fire. This is an example of why it is always important to call the fire department to let us check these things out for you. It is not trouble for us and saves the homeowner a lot in the end.