Ruling Expected in Coopersburg Blaze

The Dec. 1 fire that trapped a woman in her garage and left a Coopersburg couple homeless is under investigation. Investigators were on the scene at 10 Hillside Dr. on Saturday afternoon, along with Chief Kevin Farnish.

"The initial ruling may be deemed by the investigator as an unintentional accident," said Farnish. The fire started on the back porch of the ranch-style home, but strong winds pushed the fire into the rest of the home.

"Our biggest hindrance was definitely the wind. It was 30-40 miles an hour, and difficult to contain," said Farnish. "You hear stories about firefighters fighting forest fires with 50-60 mile an hour winds. It was like that."

Also hindering the 11 fire companies responding to the call was the location of the home.

"10 Hillside is on essentially a long cul-de-sac. Between (the Coopersburg Fire Department) and the , no one else could get on the street. We had to run lines from State St. for the rest of the responders," said Farnish

Ten other companies besides Coopersburg responded to the call, including Upper Saucon, Emmaus, Lower Milford, Richland Township, Eastern Salisbury, Springtown, Trumbauersville, Richlandtown, Quakertown, and the North Penn Goodwill canteen truck. Because of the nature of the fire, several companies brought their Rapid Intervention teams to help assist if firefighters were in any danger.

The importance of the RI teams can't be stressed enough, said Chief Farnish. "Their job is to go in if a firefighter is trapped, and several teams were on the scene. Emmaus brought their RI team, but when we needed help containing the fire, Trumbauersville stepped in to cover Emmaus."

The investigator's report is expected to come back this week. The retired couple who lived in the home are staying with family in the Coopersburg area.