Incident No.
Date: 6th September 2007
Time: 2046
Type: Fire
Address: Derelict caravans, Green Lane, Somerleyton
Initial Attendance: One pump – wholetime crew (Blue Watch), Normanshurst
Final Attendance: Three pumps (Normanshurst 02 and 05)
I've probably mentioned this before. Why can I be wide awake when the alerter goes off in the middle of the night but if it goes off while having a snooze on the sofa I'm in a befuddled daze!
It was about quarter to ten and I was snoring my way through some crap on the telly when the peace was rudely shattered. A bull in a China shop comes to mind, blundering around getting trousers on, shoes, mobile phone, alerter. I was still first in and saw on the tip sheet that we were going to a fire in derelict caravans at Somerleyton (Make Pumps 2 for water). This would be a nice drive down dark, winding country roads!
We were just about to go mobile when the bells went down again, this time for the PRT. Job was now Make Pumps 3 because of the lack of a nearby water supply.
The fire was in seven derelict caravans left over from some rock concert. I'd seen guys stripping these old caravans only days before – funny how they'd caught fire just now…
Green Lane is a fairly straight and narrow country road with no hydrants available. After dumping our water into Ladder 1, Howard Clark and myself went off in search of a hydrant. I knew from a previous job that there was a hydrant at the junction of Station Road, right in the village. The water pressure there was terrible, so much so that we had locals coming out wondering why they couldn't get any wet stuff out of their taps!
The guys on the PRT had found a better hydrant just through the village on the 'main' road. So we both used this hydrant, running a shuttle service back to Ladder 1 (nearly two miles away).
Back on Station at around 2340 and time to wash the appliances and all the hose that had been used.
Home after midnight, tea and bed…
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