Alerter - the firefighters blog

Retained firefighters train on Suffolk's new ERT

Before Normanshurst's ERT (Emergency Rescue Tender) could go 'on the run' all the Watch's and all the retained firefighters had to undergo training on the new appliance.

The retained firefighters here were the last group to be trained - Tuesday's extended drill session - allowing the ERT to go 'on the run' the next day.

During the three and a half hour drill session we 'played' with all the new fangled gear and equipment that the ERT carries.

First port of call were the high pressure and low pressure lifting airbags. The high pressure airbags lift at a far greater rate than their older counterparts, with the low pressure one looking like a giant bean bag inflating.

The HGV platform was then assembled at the front of the ERT, showing how quickly this glamourised decorators scaffolding can be erected.

And then it was getting the Powershore kit to work propping up an overturned car. This would normally be used to stabilise an HGV but it was felt more prudent to use the upside down Mondeo than to start stabilising the spanking new ERT!

Then we set to cutting, bashing, spreading and anything else we could think of to another scrap car. The hand-operated cutters / spreaders were put into use, together with the Hooligan bar, electric snippers, portable lighting and anything else that came to hand...

For the final part of the evening five of the retained firefighters that are turnout drivers took the ERT out for a refresher on how the vehicle handles.

And that was that.

The next time we drive the ERT it will most likely be to an incident. We'll be fuffing and faffing, trying to remember what's in which locker. So perhaps some locker drills are the order of the day. Failing that, when we turn up to an incident, open all the lockers to reduce the ripple effect of the shutters going up and down, up and down...

New firefighter helmets get an outing...

Tuesday night was Drill Night and, with a week to go before our new helmets go 'on the run', we wore ours for the ERT training session.

It's fair to say that, at the moment, there aren't any fans of the new design.

After wearing them for a short period, muggy heads were the order of the day - possibly due to the extra weight of the helmet mounted torch on the righthand side!

And being used to adjusting our existing helmets in a flash, we're finding it all takes that much longer to locate the right 'bits' on the new coal scuttles...

Loosening the helmet to accommodate a BA mask and smokehood should be fun until we're more comfortable with the whole process.

Anyway, next Tuesday is H-Day - April 1st. Keep your eyes peeled for self-conscious firefighters fiddling with their helmets...

Fire, another fire and then an RTC...

Tuesday turned out to be quite hectic... And it's always on the days when you seem to have tons of 'day job' things to do!

We kicked off at 12:15 with a small fire in Cambridge Road, Lowestoft - 2 pumps but nothing for us to do.

Back on station, we were on standby waiting for Ladder 1 to return. As we waited the light came up for Ladder 1 meaning they had been proceeded on to another incident - an AFA at CEFAS in Lowestoft. Yet more delay till I get my dinner.

Not long after this and the bells go down for Ladder 2 and the PRT - it's now a confirmed fire at CEFAS and the full PDA (pre-determined attendance) is being mobilised. That sees Clifton on its way with the Hydraulic Platform and support pump from Great Yarmouth.

Driving Ladder 2, I take the lead heading South through town. Within a matter of minutes we pull into the gates of CEFAS, past the evacuted mass of workers. I'm directed to reverse down a gap between two parts of this large Government building, towards the seat of the fire. We get ready to haul aloft a hosereel but find that the BA team - Dave Ives and Ben Horne of Green Watch - have dealt with the fire using an extinguisher and Size 10 boots!

As we wait for ventilation to take place, the PRT books themselves available from the incident. Within a matter of minutes they receive a Fire Priority message to proceed to an RTC on St.Peters Street in Lowestoft - back to the North side of the river.

Knowing that an RTC gets a PDA of the PRT plus the two nearest pumps, we checked to see if we could be made available. At the same time we called up Gary Smart, Ladder 2's OIC, to let him know what was happening.

We got the all clear to make ourselves available and I got straight on to the radio to inform Control. No sooner had they acknowledged my message and they were calling me up with a Fire Priority. And within a minute we were making our way back through Lowestoft's traffic, heading for St.Peters Street.

When we pulled up at the incident it appears that it was very low speed impact. But, despite of this, the female passenger in the front vehicle was medically trapped. It's basically an injury or risk of injury that is keeping them in the car and not them being physically trapped. The lady had got a history of neck problems, so the paramedics took no chances and asked us to get the roof off.

The Yarmouth HP and pump made their way past us only for the pump to be sent back to us as the third appliance. Everything was in hand, so their services weren't required on this occasion.

So roof off, casualty out on a long board...

And all this time my stomach is rumbling (it's now well over two hours since I was going to eat) and there we are, right oustide Domono's Pizza, and not freebie in sight!

Firefighter hurt responding to incident...

A firefighter sustained minor injuries today when the USAR (Urban Search And Rescue) vehicle he was driving toppled over on a central London roundabout.

The single crewed vehicle was responding to an RTC in the Blackwall Tunnel from its home station of Battersea.

The incident occurred at the IMAX roundabout, near Waterloo station.

Rumour has it that USAR now stands for UnSafe At Roundabouts...

See more pics at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/image_galleries/fire_engine_gallery.shtml?1

(Pic: Marcus Mitchell)

News from my day job...

OK, you're hopefully reading this blog because you're a firefighter, you're interested in the Fire Service or you clicked on the wrong link when you searched for something obscure in Google.

Well, now you're here, I can tell you a bit about my day job. Why? Because I can and, you never know, you may find it interesting...

I run the Good Access Guide with a small dedicated team from a small office in downtown Lowestoft. The Good Access Guide is a web directory for businesses that have made their premises and services accessible to people with disabilities. We also provide Disability Awareness Training, book holidays for disabled people and their families and work as consultants to the travel and hospitality industry.

Wake up at the back, boy!

But today has been a bit of a Red Letter day for us, even though the date doesn't normally signify good fortune.

We approached the Travel Trade Gazette (TTG), the major trade newspaper, to see if they would run a special version of their weekly Mystery Shopper article. We wanted to highlight the failings of the travel industry at large when it comes to how they still fail to give a decent level of service to disabled people - even with the Disability Discrimination Act in place.

So, a few weeks back, we sent our disabled mystery shopper into two travel agents in Castle Mall in Norwich. The findings were not good but didn't surprise us. A website was tested as was a telesales operation - still the same outcome.

The finds were published in today's TTG, online and via their e-mail newsletter. Not only did they print the Mystery Shopper but the TTG saw that this story had further to go. So, we had a separate news article and also a double page feature. Not bad for a little Lowestoft company.

Now we're telling anyone who'll listen (and those that won't) all about the TTG coverage. With any luck we will get more exposure in the local press and maybe, just maybe, on TV too.

If you're still with me and are even mildly interested, why not head over to the digital version of the TTG and 'read all about it!'

Agents 'let down' disabled clients

Access disabled clients

Disabled Mystery Shopper in Norwich

House fire - Stanley Street, Lowestoft

Just before midday last Tuesday and my alerter signals yet another house fire in Lowestoft.

This confirms Lowestoft's number one position for the most dwellings fires in Suffolk.

I was driving Ladder 2 as we headed into town via Norwich Road. As we progressed towards Stanley Street we could see a pall of smoke marking our destination.

As we turned the corner we could see smoke issuing from the broken front door and the upstairs bedroom window. Ladder 1 was round the corner in Wollaston Road, tackling the fire from the back of the house. We pulled up outside the house with Simon Reeves and Al Soards donning their BA sets. Richard set about opening up the front door with the door enforcer while I ran out the hosereel followed by a covering 45.

Simon and Al entered through the now smashed front door, with the remainder of it crashing down on Al as he made his way into the front room.

The fire was in the centre room of the groundfloor, caused by a heater.

As driver of the second pump I seemed to spend most of the time chasing my own tail... Getting equipment off the pump as and when its needed - short extension ladder, thermal image camera, wrecking bar, etc. Help to close off the road, put messages back to Control, liaise with the Police and a few other things besides.
And then it's all over... A few minutes of frenetic activity and then pack everything up and book mobile returning.

Straight back to work and another missed lunch as I plough on with my day job. I'm sure the lack of food won't do me too much harm.

That Was The Week That Was - Part 1

I'm thinking about moving into the Fire Station...

I've spent the last three and half days there covering wholetime Watches away on a Water Rescue course and the half day on standby covering a Water Rescue shout! Being the mercenary, money-grabbing b**stard that I am, this will have gone some way to paying off my £551 gas bill that landed on my doormat on Monday morning!

On Monday there were three retained firefighters riding for Blue Watch - myself, John Hubbard and Jason Balls.

The morning was spent doing standard tests on Ladder 1, a lecture from Mark Frances on Stab-Fast, followed by getting our hands on the Stab-Fast out in the drill yard.

We had a couple of home fire safety checks in south Lowestoft booked in for the afternoon - a reasonably civilised way of spending the afternoon. And, as driver, I got to sit on the pump with the remainder of the crew while Mark and Jason did the visits.

Soon after finishing the second visit we were called up by Control to return to Normanshurst because a Water Rescue shout had come in. So we returned to Normanshurst on blue lights - a strange feeling as you're normally going the other way on blues, not back to the fire station!

Steve Mullen, Crew Manager for Blue Watch, left me as driver for Ladder 1 as we headed off to Buss Creek in Southwold. It's unusual for a retained firefighter to go out on a Water Rescue as we aren't trained in this mystical art. However, I was staying ashore and would hopefully prove helpful for odd jobs.

Mel Buck and Al Soards followed us in the Unimog (now rechristened as Normanshurst Zero Mike instead of its original Zero Six). Our rendezvous point was originally Southwold Police Station but was changed just as we arrived to being Southwold Fire Station - no great deal as they are next door to each other...

Water Rescue had been requested by the Police to assist in the search for a missing local man, Daniel Hannant.

Within 15 minutes of our arrival we were joined by Princes Street 02 and 0V.

ADO John Tiffen had gone ahead to ascertain the areas that our teams were to search. When both teams were in their drysuits I took Ladder 1 followed by the Unimog onto the main road and parked up about 100m from the bridge over Buss Creek.

The boat was inflated and the teams split to search both ways from the bridge. I was left to look after Ladder 1 and the Unimog plus put back informative messages to Control.

After a couple of hours and with the light fading, the search was called off for the night.

All the gear was made up and we headed for home, getting back on station just before 1900hrs.

Tuesday saw the Water Rescue team out again in Southwold. I covered part of the day on standby at Normanshurst which spanned from just after 0900 till 1800hrs.

At around 1615hrs the Lowland Rescue team discovered a body. The Police sealed off the area to allow SOCO to do their work. When this was complete our Water Rescue team undertook the unpleasant but necessary task of retrieving the body from the marshes.

Having spoken to the team, they felt happy that they had been able to help in some small way to bring closure of sorts to the family of the deceased.

Hopefully the very close inter-agency work that was necessary on this tragic incident will mean that the Water Rescue capability of Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service will be called on more often, especially by the Police.