Firstly, an apology for the complete lack of posts on here… Life has been so hectic lately and the Fire Service has been quite quiet. Add the two together and you get nothing posted!
As seems to be the norm these days, I'd nodded off on the sofa last evening. And with me well and truly in the Land of Nod I must have leapt about five feet in the air when my alerter went off!
There I was careering around the house finding socks, shoes, alerter (that's the thing making all the noise and flashing like a set of demonic disco lights), mobile, cuddly toy, fondue set – try to focus my eyes a bit better… drop the cuddly toy and fondue set and make it to the front door. Could I get the key in the door to lock it? Could I f**k! Really must get these eyes open! Right, door locked and now the run (make that a slow jog) across the main road to the fire station. Luckily I made it across the road in one piece and got the station opened up before the rush and my tally up as driver.
Tell myself that, as I'm driving, those bloody eyes really need to be wider than slits!
Right, where are we going? Grab the tip sheet – fire in a flat at Rants Score, in the town centre. It's us and Lowestoft 01 going.
Soon the place is swarming with bodies and we're out on to Normanston Drive. Within a couple of minutes we pull up at the top of Rants Score to see a BA crew committing and smoke coming from the open door and first floor windows.
Gary and Jason don their BA sets and make their way to the BAECO board to form the Emergency Team
Meanwhile I run out a length of 70 to Lowestoft 01 to keep them topped up while Shambles sets into a nearby hydrant to feed me. Next its deploy the two flaked lengths of 45 and branch we keep in the locker bay and charge this with water – a quick way to get a covering jet out and ready.
And as second pump in we also tend to get tasked with putting back messages to Control. First message for me was an assistance message of Make Pumps 3 and that an aerial appliance was required (the hydraulic platform (HP) from Great Yarmouth plus its support pump). Requesting the HP was precautionary as the building was four storeys and the HP would be invaluable if the fire broke through to the roof.
I also had to request the attendance of the Police as the fire was of a suspicious origin - multiple seats of fire don't usually happen by accident…
Thankfully the fire was extinguished quickly with hotspots being checked for with the Thermal Image Camera.
I got in just before midnight and off to bed. Why is it that two hours before I just couldn't wake up and now, when it's time for shut eye, I'm wide awake?