The Aston-Beechwood Fire lost a wonderful man today. Former President and Life Member Ron Jones passed away today after battling liver cancer for the past several months. Ron was a Veteran of both the Vietnam and Persian Gulf Wars. He was recently honored at the state capital building by the House of Representatives and was also named Aston Township Citizen of Year 2010.
Thank you, Ron, for your 24 years of dedicated, active service to our fire company, to our community and to our country. You will be deeply missed.
 
FUNERAL SERVICES DETAILS
Calling Hours will be Thursday September 2, 2010 6:00PM – 9:00PM and Friday September 3, 2010 9:00AM – 10:00AM at the Minshall-Shropshire Funeral Home Rt. 352 & Knowlton Roads in Middletown. A memorial service will follow at Minshall-Shropshire at 10:00AM followed by a funeral procession into Aston Township. The Cremation Services will be private.
Any department wishing to participate in this final salute for FF Jones is asked to contact Lieutenant John Moletteri 610-999-6660 or e-mail jmoletteri@astonbeechwood72.com for additional information.

Aston Beechwood Will be holding two fund raisers at Chick - Fil- A in September. Please join us and the Spicy Fire Cow for a night of fun and food. Please print out the flier below and bring it with you. And if you forget it, still come and just tell the cashier that you are there for Aston Beechwood Spirit Nights. September 20th and 27th at the Concordville Chick-Fil-A.

As always, thank you for all the support you always give us! 

This afternoon, companies 72 and 63 were dispatched for a traffic accident with injuries in the 5000 block of Pennell Road. A/C J. Kane arrived and held the assignment to EMS. Medic 72 transported one patient to Crozer.
Approximately 8pm, a severe thunderstorm landed in Aston knocking down poles and trees in the area of Barnaby’s. The township fire companies assisted Aston Police with traffic control and 72-9 (M. Keiser) had PECO notified to respond. ABFC was back in the station by 10:30PM and power was back on in most areas by midnight.
EMS continues to remain busy handling six calls today. The BLS unit was also needed for one transport today.

Today the company made the annual journey to Earleville, Maryland for the 28th Annual Hacks Point Fire Company Parade and Fair. Following a week of cleaning and a lot of elbow grease, the members proudly displayed the apparatus for judging and participated in the parade. Winding through Earleville, the parade concluded at the Hacks Point Fire House, where the members enjoyed the annual festivities of funnel cake, fair games and time with friends.

The evening concluded with the presentation of trophies. As in the past, Aston-Beechwood made our presence known, bringing home a total of 6 trophies:

• Most Unique Entry - Gator 72
• Best Appearing Chief's Vehicle - Command 72
• Best Appearing Ambulance - 72-7a
• Best Appearing Brush Truck - Tac 72
• Best Appearing Pumper with a 1500 gpm pump - Engine 72
• Best Appearing Out of State Department Overall - ASTON BEECHWOOD

The members finished the evening at Station 72 with crabs and our trophies. Many thanks to the members who put in hours of work this week (the apparatus are pristine!), to Lima Fire Company for covering the Township while we were gone and to Hacks Point for the invitation, hope to see you on October 9!

Come out and support the Green Ridge Fire Company at their 1st Annual Summer Luau on Saturday August 21st from 1pm-8pm. The event will feature live music/DJ, games & lots of food and plenty of cold beverages. The cost is $25 a person $40 per couple, under 21 $10 and Kids 10 and under are FREE.   Please call the station for ticket information 610-494-6771, email greenridge63@yahoo.com or stop by the station at 2900 W. Dutton Mill Road.

Members from Green Ridge and Aston-Beechwood met up today at Sun Valley High School to play a friendly game of softball. ABFC practiced hard for about 20 minutes in our parking lot prior to losing our lone softball in the Chester Creek. Everyone played a great game but Joe Carr did have multiple errors at shortstop. The final score was 13-7 and we decided to take lessons learned from little league and everyone is considered a winner today. Congrats to both fire companies for a game well played and thank you FFs Moletteri and K. Carr for organizing this annual event.

After the game, members cooled off in the pool at the Spayd compound and enjoyed Padrinos pizza.

In 2009, Trans Care donated a used ambulance to Aston-Beechwood Fire Co. to be used as a back-up in case the medic unit or BLS unit was down for repair. After much discussion, it was determined this it would not be cost effective to keep another squad in service. Fitzgerald Mercy Hospital RN Richard Adu-Amponah, who is from a small African Village in Ghana, stepped in and offered to ship the ambulance to Africa where it was desperately needed. ABFC worked with Mr. Adu-Amponah to make this happen. When the ambulance finally arrived in Ghana in January of this year, the villagers were very happy, dancing and singing around the Van in the arrival ceremony. Since then, it has been used to transport nurses to this village to give immunizations. It has also been used to rescue a boy from a traffic accident and transport him to the closest hospital 6 miles away. Prior to the arrival of the van ambulance, the villagers had no reliable transportation to the hospital, but now they do.

This evening, Company 69 was dispatched to the Darlington Trail for a subject thrown from a horse. TAC and Engine 69 responded and found a female patient semi-conscious. Assistant Chief Pettit assumed Darlington Command and requested Station 50 (Middletown) for their 4 wheel drive unit (50-8) and Station 72 (Aston-Beechwood) for our EMS Gator. These units were used to transport EMS crews to the patient who was more than a mile off the hard road.  Gator 72 transported the patient to the PENNSTAR helicopter which landed near the scene.

Congratulation to Kelly Johnson on passing the last hurdle in her quest to becoming a paramedic. We are all so proud of you.

 

Tonight we traveled to Green Ridge for a combined drill on the proper extrication techniques of a school bus. Green Ridge FF/EMT Gordon Pippin Sr was the lead instructor for the drill. The crews went over the basic construction and extrication techniques for buses. After a short classroom session the crews got to go hands on with the equipment and tearing apart the bus. Green Ridge Deputy Chief Mike Evans went over the lay out of the rescue truck and the tools it carries with the junior members from both companies. To end the night we set the bus on fire. Thank you to FF/EMT Pippin Sr. for instructing the class, and to Assistant Chief Dawson, (Green Ridge), and Chief Mike Keiser (Aston-Beechwood) for an awesome drill. Thank you to RTM school district for the use of the bus. Great team work by all.
 

Happy Birthday to the following members

 
Ed Woodruff 7/2
Don Fisher 7/6
Tom Brady 7/9
Katie 7/7
Ron J. 7/14
Jessica 7/29
Cathy J. 7/29
 

The officers and members of the Aston-Beechwood fire company would like to send our deepest sympathies to the members of the Milmont Fire Company and to the friends and family of Fire Fighter Charles Hornberger. May you rest in Peace.

Tonight we hosted the Green Ridge Fire Company in a vehicle fire drill. We would like to thank Pen Delco School District for donating the bus. Under the direction of Chief Mike Keiser and Captain Dave Durbano, the use of Proper attack methods and safety were practiced.  Great job by all.

Tonight, the full company traveled to station 63 to stand by for the annual Aston Township Fireworks. Everybody was stationed at 63 and was able to get a close up view of the display while remaining available for calls in the township as well as any associated with the fire works. A good time was had by all while attending this annual tradition.

Tonight for drill, crews traveled to the home of Lt. Moletteri use his pool to practice in water stabilization methods. EMS Lt. Spayd reviewed a variety of techniques with everyone in attendance. Once the drill was complete, everyone had a chance to swim, play volleyball and enjoyed the pizza provided by the Chief''s Cabinet. Thanks to the Moletteri family for allowing us to use their pool for this important training.