Date: 18th February 2008
Time: 1425
Type: Make Pumps 3 – acetylene cylinder
Address: SLP, Hamilton Road, Lowestoft
Initial Attendance: Normanhurst 01
Final Attendance: Normanshurt 01, 02, 05 plus Hydraulic Platform (HP) and support pump from Yarmouth
When an acetylene cylinder is involved in a fire or it has become heated we get out the kid gloves, retire the required 200 metres and keep everything crossed.
We left the station in glorious sunshine only to meet a blanket of fog as we neared the sea. As we arrived, hundreds of workers from SLP were trouping out towards the security gate, putting plenty of distance between themselves and the potential timebomb sitting beneath one of their accommodation modules.
The crew of Ladder 1 had already set into open water (the dock) to supply the copious amounts of water that are needed for the 24 hour cooling of acetylene cylinders. We then pitched in with running out 70mm hose towards the cylinder and setup two ground monitors which would then pour thousands of gallons of cold sea water onto the offending article.
And that’s as exciting as it gets I’m afraid! After that it’s regular inspections of the cylinder and its cooling – not much else.
Luckily we were able to get away by about 1730, leaving Green Watch there until relieved by Red Watch after 1800. And, as we all expected, the alerters went off just before 2200 to get a relief crew from the retained to take over from Red Watch. Thankfully there were quite a few ‘volunteers’ willing to sit it out within yards of the freezing North Sea and in a pea-souper! With any luck they should have been able to get back to station sometime after 0200 this morning!
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