Last night was one of those rare occasions when we get off station to do some drilling…
Two pumps headed down to the old North Denes caravan site to fight a simulated house fire – actually a boarded up toilet / shower block.
Ladder 2, with Ian ‘Billy’ McMillan in charge, were the first pump in and got a hosereel onto the ‘fire’. Almost immediately Billy made up for another pump to assist with the water supply.
We turned up on Ladder 1 and set about running a line of 70 from us to Ladder 2, supplementing our tank from a hydrant that was about four lengths away. I think it was nine or ten lengths of 70 to get over to Ladder 2 – and as the line got longer firefighters were disappearing into the thickening fog…
With a reasonable supply, the Ladder 2 crew were able to get two main jets working, one through a monitor.
Then we had a ‘failure’ of the Ladder 1 pump. We made a dam at the midway point along the line of 70 and let this start filling from the less than adequate hydrant. Four of us then lugged the LPP (Lightweight, Portable Pump – neither lightweight or particulary portable!) the 150 metres from Ladder 2 to the now filling Fire Service paddling pool. We were then able to pump water on up the line to Ladder 2, but were quickly over-running the supply from the hydrant.
And after a few minutes of this we got the ‘knock off’ from Mel. A short debrief in the gathering gloom was followed by a pretty brisk make up, especially as the clock was moving swiftly towards 2100hrs and the end of drill night.
These simulated incidents / off-site drills make our training more realistic – not just squirting water at the drill tower with a good hydrant just feet away. We also get seen by the public, our customers, which generates interest and the chance to have a chat with them – again far better than us being hidden away on the drill yard. And, finally, the time goes much quicker. Two hours spent in the classroom on the Scottish Modules or fannying around on station really does make the clock stand still…