United States (Pennsylvania) - It was exactly the type of blaze that Reading Fire Chief William H. Rehr III worries about. A large vacant building, burning out of control, surrounded by houses and the Reading Fire Department had just enough manpower to control the blaze.

Faced with the specter of layoffs in his department, Rehr worries about how the department will respond to future fires like the one that destroyed the former factory building at 641 McKnight St.

The Tuesday night fire at the vacant four-story building put the department's manpower to the test: The city's full complement of 22 firefighters battled the blaze, and another 10 off -duty fi refi ghters were recalled, Rehr said.

During the fire, the city received several other calls for service that backup crews had to handle, Rehr said.

The fire was discovered about 7 p.m., and when crews arrived, a two-story portion of the building was ablaze. Eventually, a roof and part of a wall collapsed.

To attack the fire, and prevent it from spreading to nearby homes, Rehr posted crews at all four sides of the building, training hoses on the blaze.

With the exception of some vinyl siding melted from the heat of the fire, no homes were damaged by the blaze, Rehr said.

Having fewer firefighters available would have forced a different plan of attack, Rehr said. It's anyone's guess what the outcome would have been, he said.

City fi refighters have said layoffs will force the department to operate below safe staffi ng numbers.

A 1994 arbitration award requires the city to have at least 22 fi refighters per shift. But layoffs could bring that staffing number to 20.

The city's fi refi ghters union has rejected contract concessions, such as wage freezes, requested by the city administration to close a budget gap.

City leaders have said they will have to lay off more employees than the 27 announced so far. Firefi ghters would lose only two members because of the minimum staffing requirements in their contract.

Having fewer than 22 fi refighters per shift worries Rehr, and Tuesday's fire shows why the city needs that amount of personnel, he said.

"This is exactly the type of fire that I was talking about," he said. "You have to pull hoses, hop over fences and work those lines. That just takes people."

Written by Reading Eagle