Firehouse

Finally, eight months after building contracts were awarded, work on Morton's new firehouse and municipal garage was virtually complete, and the Fire Department was eager to move in. It looked as if Morton borough engineer H. Gilroy Damon was going to have some good news to report about the $320,000 project to the Borough Council at its meeting Wednesday. Then along came the problem of the doors - three large doors that are supposed to open when the firetrucks and municipal trucks need to get in or out. "The doors are bolted down, and the subcontractor says that he wasn't informed about the need for an emergency system on the doors that would stop them if they hit an obstruction, so he still has to order the part.

Where Bristol Borough's volunteer firefighters once napped, student dancers are now pirouetting and salespeople are peddling cellular telephones. Bernard Mazzocchi, a Bristol developer and businessman, has restored the former America Hose, Hook & Ladder Company Firehouse at Pond and Mulberry Streets in the borough's historic district, converting the building for commercial use. The volunteer fire company moved to East Farragut Avenue in 1973. The former firehouse, next to Bristol's Borough Hall, housed municipal vehicles and some offices before Mazzocchi bought it from the borough in 1985 for $65,000.

The city's Department of Public Property plans to inspect the heating systems at all 64 Philadelphia fire stations as the result of Saturday's explosion at a North Philadelphia firehouse that killed one firefighter and critically burned another. Dudley R. Sykes, the city's commissioner of public property, said yesterday that his department had no reason to believe any other gas boilers in city firehouses posed a hazard. However, he said the inspection would be carried out as a precautionary measure.

March is mid-Atlantic mud season, when thawing farm fields are too squishy to be plowed well. So, across Lancaster County, volunteer fire companies hold annual "mud sales" of home furnishings and farm animals and equipment, taking commissions to help pay firehouse bills. Though it's mainly a March Lancaster County phenomenon, the first sale of the season takes place this Saturday in northwestern Chester County. The Honey Brook Fire Company is holding its annual consignment sale at the Romano 4-H Center on Route 322, across from the fuel storage tank farm.

Montgomery County prosecutors will not charge the mother who left her hour-old newborn outside a Plymouth Township fire station Sunday. The mother, who is 29 and from the township, learned on the Internet two months before giving birth that safe-haven laws in some states allow babies to be dropped off at police stations and firehouses, but apparently did not realize Pennsylvania requires that infants be left at hospitals, District Attorney Risa...

It was an awful, inhuman scream that first drew firefighter Jerry Carpenter to the door of the Engine 50 firehouse in North Philadelphia before dawn yesterday. Outside, two pit bulls writhed in a blurry flurry of rage, which the 16-year fire department veteran initially mistook for a dogfight. While he debated what to do, Carpenter saw a cat's claw flash from the middle of the flying fur, and his stomach turned. It was Smokey, a stray the firefighters had taken in a year ago and quickly grew to love.

Fire Department investigators yesterday were trying to determine what caused the boiler explosion Saturday night in a North Philadelphia firehouse that killed one firefighter and injured three others. The explosion killed Edward Friel, 37, a 13-year department veteran, in the Engine 34 firehouse, 29th and Thompson streets, about 10:20 p.m. Saturday as he was checking the boiler in the basement, the Fire Department said. The firefighters, members of Engine 27, 19th and Oxford streets, were in the Engine 34 firehouse covering for that company, which was fighting a four- alarm factory blaze in Southwest Philadelphia.

The Rutledge Fire Company may sell part of its firehouse complex to the borough, council members announced Monday night. The council authorized borough officials to draw up an agreement of sale for the purchase of the fire company's old firehouse for $95,000. Under the agreement, the fire company would retain the adjacent new firehouse, a garage and a small parking lot, said Solicitor Barry W. VanRensler. If the agreement is approved by the fire company, the question of whether to buy the building will be put to a public referendum on April 27, VanRensler said.

Aggravated-assault charges were filed against two Philadelphia residents, and police officers from four municipalities were summoned, as a result of disturbances outside the Roslyn Fire Company in Abington Township early Saturday. Steven A. Andrews, 20, of the 7900 block of Cedarbrook Avenue, and a 16- year-old male were charged with aggravated and simple assault and recklessly endangering another person. Abington police said the charges stemmed from a fight at the firehouse, 1128 Bradfield Rd., in which head injuries were suffered by a 17-year-old Willow Grove youth.

The township commissioners gave their approval Wednesday night for the Aston Beechwood Fire Company to build an addition to its firehouse on Mount Road for use as a banquet facility. Ronald Jones, president of the fire company, said the older portion of the firehouse would be demolished and an addition would be built for offices, a meeting room and banquet facility. The newer engine bays would remain. In recent years, fire company officials have tried to secure land to relocate the firehouse to a more central location.