It was like waking the dead when my alerter went off at 1am this morning. I'm normally out of bed like a shot, going through the well practised routine of dressing in a hurry before legging it over to the station.
This morning I must have been in a really deep sleep because when I did fall out of bed it felt like I was wading through treacle. I careered into furniture, tripped over my own feet and finally struggled into my clothes.
I must have been slow off the mark because I was third in, behind Cheesey and Mel.
It was a while before I realised we weren't off to back up White Watch but that we had our own shout in the south of Lowestoft. Maps out to locate Briarwood Road and Cheesey took us on our way.
The tip sheet just said 'Shed', which isn't much to go on but as we neared Briarwood Road we could see an ominous orange glow lighting up the night sky. As we pulled up there were a few pops and bangs – either petrol cans or paint tins.
We had to extend the hosereel to its full 120 metre length as our only access was via a track leading round to the back of the houses.
Rounding the corner we got a fullview of the fire. It had well and truly taken hold and was well on its way to spreading to the boundary fences to the left and right of the garden.
With the hosereel run out. Mel and I donned BA and, under Rapid Deployment rules, made our way round to the branch to start tackling the fire.
The volume of water from the hosereel just wasn't making an impression on the fire at all. The shed had been up against the back fence (which was burnt away by now) and must have stretched the full width of the garden (maybe 30 feet). After just a few seconds Mel spotted a couple of Propane cylinders close to where we were working. While he tried to keep the flames at bay I reached in and removed the cylinders, placing them out of harm way further up the track.
By now Cheesey had set into the nearby hydrant and Ben had run out a line of 45 to give us a bit more welly.
Dennis had already put in an assistance message of Make Pumps 2 and we were soon joined by the Clifton crew.
By now the fire had destroyed the fence at each side of the garden, warped the metal framed green house and had started to take hold of another shed nearer to the house.
With the excitement over, the ruins of the shed were turned over revealing yet another Propane cylinder and a petrol generator.
Then it was make everything up and back to Normanshurst and service our BA sets.
Finally got home sometime after 3am for a cup of tea and some shuteye.
Forgot to mention earlier that just as we were booking mobile, the bells went for the PRT. White Watch had now made up at their job – a polytunnel containing a tractor and other machinery at the local council nursery.
Busy old station. Well, for a few days anyway!