With a freshly made mug of tea plonked on my desk, it was asking for trouble.
And there it was – literally right outside my window. I looked out to my left across Alexandra Road to the main road that's about 150m away. How come there was thick fog on the main road but Alexandra Road was fog free?
Perhaps it's not fog – my razor-sharp detective mind started to see other possibilities here! What if it was smoke? That would make it a fire just a few hundred metres from my office. Nah, can't be. If it was a fire then my trusty little alerter would be playing merry hell by…
And we're off! My alerter kicked into life and I was out of the office like a scolded cat. As I ran towards my car I could see the smoke getting thicker. Arriving at my car I looked down the side of the Doctor's surgery and could see flames licking out of the roof of Anchor Fisheries.
This seems odd. I'm at the fire but have to drive to the fire station to come all the way back again! Meet Ladder 1 coming in the opposite direction and me thinking that they'll have their hands full for a few minutes waiting for us to back them up.
Multiple calls had been made to Control who had now made the decision to send the ERT too.
So, three fire engines all approaching the building from a separate side and getting plenty of water up into the open roof. Three hydrants were used so each pump had plenty of water, if needed.
Then it was up onto the roof for myself and Gary, wearing BA. We worked from a narrow valley in the roof, stripping off tiles and giving the seat of the fire a good drink.
And apart from making the remainder of the roof safe – that was it. Back to the fire station to service our BA sets and then home for a shower. It hasn't done much good – I still smell like a kipper!