At 1740 hours, Station 33 (Honey Brook), Station 34 (Martin's Corner), Ladder 49 (East Brandywine), Medic 93 (Brandywine), and Station 89 Ambulance (Elverson) were dispatched to the Lakeview Building in Tel Hai Retirement Community for a reported building fire.

Assistant 33 (Klinger) responded and was advised by the Chester County Fire Board that staff members had called 911 due to alarms sounding in the building and visible smoke on the second floor. A fire alarm also came in through a second building moments later, bringing Station 48 (Glen Moore) to cover the fire alarm. Assistant 33 arrived first and established "Tel Hai Command". The building was being evacuated and multiple staff members were reporting a fire in an apartment with sprinkler activation. The fire alarm was deemed a result of the fire and Tel Hai Command had 48 units continue in to assist with the fire.

Engine 33-1 was the first arriving fire apparatus and divided its crew. 2 firefighters led off with a 200' preconnected bumper line while 2 firefighters located the fire room and then directed the handline crew to the room. Chief 49 (Edwards) arrived and was assigned the Fire Operations Role. Chief 48 (Brown) arrived and was assigned to assist with EMS Operations with 33-21 (Ressel). Chief 33 (Messner) arrived and had overall command and worked directly with Tel Hai staff to ensure a smooth flow of information between fire crews and staff.

As fire crews were extinguishing the fire and checking for fire extension, additional resources began arriving. Room by room searches on all 4 floors were conducted for victims as ventilation of the entire building commenced. Ventilation was a challenge as there was smoke on floors 2, 3, and 4. Positive pressure fans in conjunction with regular electric fans were used as crews cleared each floor, room by room. Water issues were encountered on floors 1 and 2 due to numerous sprinkler heads that were activated in the fire room. Crews temporarily secured the sprinkler control valve until the activated sprinkler heads were replaced. An EMS Box was dispatched bringing 5 additional ambulances, 2 Paramedics and a rescue to assist the EMS Sector with evaulating the multiple residents as they were evacuated to the Tel Hai Chapel for shelter. Tel Hai staff and fire and EMS crews worked together to search the entire complex for all residents of the fire building for accountability. After a short period of time all 93 residents of the fire building were relocated and accounted for which was reported to Command.

Chester County Fire Marshalls arrived and began the fire investigation process while crews worked with maintenance and staff to begin moving residents back into their apartments as the floors were cleared of smoke. Two residents were transported to local hospitals for minor complications from the fire. Fire crews were released by Command with the exception of Engine 33-1. Command along with the EMS crews stayed on site until Tel Hai staff were able to move all but a small number of residents back into their rooms.

Engine 69-5 (Twin Valley) and Ambulance 3-7-1 (New Holland EMS) handled the cover-up assignment at Station 33.

The Honey Brook Fire Company would like to thank everyone that responded to this large scale event. With everyone working together damage and injuries were as minimal as possible.