Santa Claus and firetruck crew help save family from burning home in New Jersey
Besides bringing children gifts in brightly-colored wrapping paper on Christmas morning — or coal for some — Santa Claus sometimes steps in to help save the day.
This was true for a family in New Jersey after Santa and a firetruck crew saved them from their burning home days ahead of Christmas.
While touring on a firetruck through Pilesgrove, Santa and the crew saw smoke rising from a three-story single family home’s roof with those inside unaware of the danger on Dec. 18, the Reliance Fire Company said in a Facebook post that same day. Pilesgrove is 33 miles south of Philadelphia.
The crew “immediately” jumped to the rescue from their truck adorned with rainbow holiday lights by evacuating the home with help from other local fire companies, according to the post.
They “were able to minimize the damage and extinguish the fire that was contained within the walls and floors of the home,” the fire company said.
“There was an adult female and five children inside that actually weren’t aware that the house was on fire till the firefighters went and knocked and opened the door,” Fire Chief Brian Facemyer told NJ.com.
“Reliance personnel with assistance from Santa Claus evacuated the female and five children safely,” the company said in a news release provided to McClatchy News.
A photo shows Santa in his bold red suit and long white beard “giving his scene size up report” to Facemyer in the Facebook post.
It was determined there “was some type of malfunction with the chimney they had a wood stove burning and the fire was in the wall alongside the chimney where the wood stove was,” according to Facemyer, NJ.com reported.
The fire crews “utilized hose lines from the ladder truck, which was still illuminated with Christmas lights, to begin fire suppression operations,” the release said. “Santa Claus also assisted the firefighting efforts by helping feed the hose line into the residence.”
Santa resumed his firetruck tour in the area on Dec. 19, according to the fire company’s Facebook page.
In a separate post, the fire company wrote: “Santa is taking a quick break to respond to another emergency. He will be back as soon as he can!,” on Dec. 19.
Santa has been touring with the Reliance Fire Company over the past 15 years, according to the release.
This story was originally published December 20, 2021 at 3:20 PM with the headline "Santa Claus and firetruck crew help save family from burning home in New Jersey."
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