SCRANTON -- The Scranton Fire Department's Engine 10 gunned up East Mountain Road Tuesday afternoon and into its rightful spot in the garage of the fire station at the top of the hill. The firefighters who also call the station home unloaded the engine with a little extra enthusiasm.
The fire chief told Newswatch 16 last week that several of the 12 firefighters who are assigned to work out of the east mountain station got sick. But, air tests came back confirming it was not black mold as the chief feared. Even though they still don't know what caused the firefighters to get sick, city officials say it is safe for them to return here.
"When I get to see the written report there might be something in there, I hope. Maybe it was a fluke. I don`t know, but we got a call of guys getting sick so we had to act on it, and everybody from the top down did what they had to do," Fire Chief Pat DeSarno said.
While Engine 10 was out of service, firefighters still covered East Mountain by posting other engines in the neighborhood.
"The neighborhood fire stations are key. Every neighborhood fire station is important, really because if one is out there`s not a whole lot around it, you know? The other ones are pretty distant," Chief DeSarno added.
Folks on East Mountain thought it was a particularly bad time for their fire station to be down since the neighborhood is remote and surrounded by woods.
"Since we`re up here in the middle of nowhere and you worry about the fires in the forest now. That`s right across the street from me," neighbor Mike Cummings said.
The threat of brush fires this time of year isn`t just a concern for people who live on East Mountain, but for businesses too. Waldorf Park is in a 100-year-old building that's still standing because the fire station is so close.
"We`ve had a small fire here where our kitchen burned and if not for this fire truck up here on East Mountain getting here so quick the whole building would have gone, but they were able to knock it down quick," said Waldorf Park President Harold Bauer.
To make sure the fire house will stay open, the chief told Newswatch 16 the firefighters have an added duty this week: to give the Engine 10 building a good cleaning.