BRADLEY BEACH — When members of the Bradley Beach Fire Department recently embarked on a trip to Broughton, Pennsylvania, to bring home a newly purchased fire engine, they found themselves in the right place at the right time.
Bradley Beach Fire Chief Ron Minsky, firefighter Kyle Hagerman, engine foreman Brian Crean and former chief Jason Afanador were riding home on the fire engine, which the department had purchased from the Broughton Volunteer Fire Department. As they drove along Pennsylvania Interstate 76, Minsky said, they noticed smoke coming from underneath a Jeep Compass traveling in front of them.
When the driver pulled off the road, the firefighters saw the smoke quickly turn to flames, emanating from the bottom of the SUV. Minsky, who has been a firefighter for more than 20 years, grabbed a fire extinguisher from the chief’s car, and the crew sprang into action.
Prior to leaving Broughton, not expecting to encounter a fire on the six-hour, 360-mile journey back to Bradley Beach, the department members had dumped water out of the new engine to lighten the load. Fortunately, Minsky’s chief’s vehicle was equipped to fight fires on the go, he said.
“Not only had we dumped the water, but the engine had no hose on it or anything either because we bought it with really no equipment on it, so that big fire engine really did us no good,” Minsky said.
Upon arrival, the driver of the SUV was in shock and panicking, hesitant to exit the vehicle, Minsky said. The fire chief removed the driver and extinguished the flame, preventing injuries to all persons and minimizing major damage to the Jeep Compass that, had it not been for the Bradley Beach Fire Department, would have been eventually engulfed in flames.
“We didn’t know what caused it, but we were just happy to get her out because we were really in the middle of nowhere on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. When we called 911 to get the Pennsylvania troopers and the fire department to get out there. It took a good 20 to 25 minutes,” Minsky said.
After the incident, the Bradley Beach Fire Department members on scene phoned 911 and detailed the crucial coincidence to the dispatcher.
Minsky said, “When I called it in on 911 the dispatcher kind of did a double take; she’s like ‘Where are you from? Bradley Beach, New Jersey?”
According to Minsky, it took about 20 minutes for first responders to arrive at the scene, which would have been ample time for the car to be destroyed by the fire.
Being able to leap into action without a second’s notice is a skill possessed by longtime firefighters such as Minsky, whether it’s in Bradley Beach or on Interstate 76 in Pennsylvania.
Minsky told The Coast Star, “At this point in my career, it’s pretty much instinct by now. This is just evidence that as a first responder you pretty much always have to be on point. You have to constantly train and run scenarios in your head because you never know when you’re going to stumble upon something.”
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