February is getting to be a busy month for the retained firefighters at Normanshurst. We haven't seen this rate of shouts for a number of years, possibly back to the days when we used to attend more two pump AFA's.
We've had 16 shouts so far this month ranging from non-events to the full-on RTC a week ago with four persons trapped including two police officers…
Yesterday saw my alerter summon me at around 1640hrs. When I got over to the fire station I could see that none of the turnout lights were up so it looked like a standby for us. The Watch had tipped out on the PRT but the tip sheet said NT01 going to an RTC in Beccles. I thought the printout was in error and that Blue Watch had taken the PRT instead, given the nature of the incident.
So straight on the blower to Control just to check that we were on standby. I've done this countless times and always get the same reply, "Yes, you're on standby". But not this time. "No, you're not on standby, you're going".
With no lights up anyone arriving for the shout just tends to amble in, assuming that we're not going anywhere. The turnout lights can be operated manually from above the printer and this is where I headed after my call to Control.
I'd got the drivers tally for Ladder 1 and we made our way out into the early evening traffic.
As we approached the railway crossing in Oulton Broad the barriers were coming down ready for the arrival of the Norwich train. Thankfully the signalman was on the ball and raised the barriers for us to proceed.
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It's a decent drive out to Beccles giving the driver the chance to get into the swing of things. Our normal turnout is to within a mile of Normanshurst, so you're there before you know it…
We arrived to find a car that had collided with an electricity supply pole. It looked like the car had been exiting a driveway and accelerated into the pole (possibly an automatic and the wrong pedal being used!). Our services weren't required as paramedics and the Beccles crew removed the driver through the doorway – no cutting being required.
And that was that. Just a slow, leisurely drive back to Lowestoft in time for tea and medals…