It looked like there was a fire sale Sunday morning at Prime Outlets at Grove City, Springfield Township. Maybe that was because of all the fire trucks in the parking lot.

A training for the eastern Mercer County fire departments and rescue personnel, which occurs on a quarterly basis, helps the departments get comfortable working together in case of an emergency call at a large building or complex such as the outlet mall on Route 208.

Hosted by Springfield Township Volunteer Fire Department this month, the choice of a practice run at the outlet mall had to do with the large size of the complex and possible problems with traffic if a fire or other life-threatening emergency occurs when parking lots are full of shoppers.

"The biggest concern we've got is the time of day it comes in on," said Springfield Township Fire Chief Steve Rea. "If it's 3 a.m., we've got a vacant lot, but at 3 in the afternoon, the congestion would be the biggest concern, and public safety and being able to do our jobs. Part of the problem we have to deal with is to go to the front of the store (with the emergency). There's no vehicle access."

He explained to members of the five departments present that the complex is about 400 feet wide, which means fire fighters would have to hand-lay hose to reach stores, especially those within the center of the mall aisles.

Taking part in the training Sunday were fire personnel from Springfield, Mercer East End, Grove City, Pine Township and Stoneboro. Other members of the eight-department eastern county association are Sandy Lake, Grove City Rescue and Jackson Center.

The training took place early Sunday morning to avoid the normal crowds at the mall. "We're trying to get a pre-plan on this place so that (if an emergency happens) when we're dealing with (a lot) of shoppers, we'll have an idea of how to handle it. During a busy time, there's just no way to maneuver around here," Rea said. "The key point in this operation is to make sure we have two engines separated on each side of the mall."

Choosing a store within the center of the complex, Hush Puppies & Family shoe store, the 27 firefighters in attendance began to deal with a simulated situation, some carrying hoses about 200 feet to reach the front of the store, some going to the back of the store to deal with simulated electricity cut-off.

"My theory is, when in doubt, shut 'em all down," said Rea, referring to the non-marked meters behind the stores.

Chad Crowley, a firefighter from Stoneboro Volunteer Fire Department, thought the training was a good idea. "It's important because of the fact if you don't know what you're dealing with. At least now, you have an idea of a starting point of how to proceed."

Pine Township volunteer firefighter Chris Holmes agreed. "This way, if you get that call in, you know what's going on and how to react. So when you go out, its not in a big cluster. Everything falls into place and people know what needs to be done."

As the departments began to pick up equipment about an hour later, Rea told them that "this is much a learning process, to see what we can improve in any way."

The fire chief from Pine Township, John Nicklin, said it was the first time for a lot of the guys to go through such a simulation in a place such as the mall. "It's a lot of help, so when there is a real incident, things go a little more smoothly. We're trying to build the relationships with all the departments."

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