An early Friday morning fire in a Rexmont multi-family dwelling was extinguished without injuries by the combined effort of volunteers from over a dozen Lebanon County fire companies.
The first alarm for the frame and aluminum siding building at 269 Rexmont Road was called in to the Lebanon County Department of Emergency Services at 8:11 a.m. Second and third alarms were sounded at 8:17 and 8:39 as dispatchers called for more firefighters.
Public records list Joseph and Crystal Kimmel of Lebanon as the owners.
Dozens of fire trucks and emergency vehicles from all parts of the county lined the village’s main street as rotating groups of firefighters, working in the early morning heat and humidity, took turns attacking the blaze, then cooling off on the porch of a nearby building.
The apartment building lies on a slope between Rexmont Road and Wenger Street. Working from both sides, firefighters attacked the blaze from above and below.
Speaking to LebTown at the scene, Cornwall Fire Chief Perry Gernert said that there appeared to be no injuries, but that one occupant escaped to the roof and was rescued unhurt. He could not say how many people may have been inside when the fire ignited.
Gernert said it was too early to determine a cause or damage amount.
City of Lebanon Fire Commissioner Duane Trautman responded along with several city fire companies. He praised the volunteers who fought the fire as mid-morning temperatures climbed past 80 degrees.
“When it’s this hot, you can only fight a fire for 20 to 25 minutes, then you’ve got to stop and cool down,” Trautman said.
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