Alerter blog

Author: charley-farley-737

  • New Season of Learn and Live Gets Underway

    It's been a while since I last did a Learn and Live presentation – back in May I think.

    So it was with some trepidation (regular readers will know that I like to use a few long words in my posts, just to keep them on their toes. If I've lost you already, just click on the word for a detailed explanation…) that I headed off last night to Halesworth with Rachael 'Princess' O'Connell to make two presentations.

    We arrived at Halesworth Fire Station with plenty of time to spare before the first 'gig'. I moved the pump out of the appliance bay and we started to transform the empty space into a makeshift lecture theatre / cinema.

    It seemed that most of the Halesworth crew then turned up to see the presentation and to help with crowd control. Unfortunately, the crowd control part of the job description wasn't required. Even sending an old fashioned press gang into Halesworth didn't get us any takers!
    So, the first presentation was kept in house with the Halesworth crew being our audience. Only one of them had seen the presentation so it was a good dress rehearsal for us.

    The press gang went out again and this time managed to 'persuade' eight young people to come along to the station.

    I'd asked Stuart Hostler, the Sub Officer at Halesworth, to do a short welcome including where the loos are, that refreshments were available and that this was an operational fire station and what to expect if they got a shout. Over then to Rachael for our introduction section and then me for the main part. I'd hardly got into my flow when the turnout printer (right next to me) sprang into life followed quickly by about ten alerters all going off! A short interlude followed while the crew got their fire kit on and legged it out to the pump.

    By the time we got to the section of road safety videos the pump was back. The crew quietly filed in and watched from the back. We wrapped up shortly after that with positive comments coming from our audience.

    We're back there again tonight. Hopefully there'll be a few more takers this time.

  • Buses come in three’s, what about fire engines?

    No, that’s not the start of some corney joke… The answer is four. For what seemed the first time in absolutely ages, my alerter went off while I was at home, not in the middle of the night and not when I’m on leave!


    Jogging towards the station I could see the PRT was tipping out and when I saw all three turnout lights I up, I assumed we were all going to an RTC in this neck of the woods. As I was first in I took a look at the printer to see where all the action was. The tip sheet didn’t show NT05 (the PRT), just NT01 and NT02 to smoke issuing from a flat on Kirkley Cliff in the south of Lowestoft. This meant that Clifton must be out with the PRT otherwise they would have been the other pump at our shout.


    So, now I was driving Ladder 1 as first pump in to a fire in a four storey building. And with it not being our normal pump (we usually take Ladder 2), my brain is racing to make sure I know where everything is and the idiosyncracies (what?) of Ladder 1. If anyone wants a definition of that long word just drop me an e-mail!


    Now the drive through the early evening rush hour. Denmark Road towards the railway station is always good. Outside of the queueing traffic, wrong side of all the islands, a quick shimmy through the traffic lights, a few choice words at a motorist who is more concerned with his phone call than moving out of our way and over the bascule bridge.


    We pull up outside the property number we’ve been given but there’s no sigh of fire or anybody waiting for us. Then, up ahead, I spot a man standing in the middle of the road waving frantically. When we pull up there’s a male casualty, face blackened feeling slightly worse for taking a few lungfuls of smoke.


    Two BA off, pump engaged, hosereel coming off, the BA team go under air and make their way up to the third floor. Luckily the chip pan is out and the level of activity suddenly drops dramatically.


    I think the guy that had waved at us had probaly narrowly missed being run down by the PRT and Clifton as they responded just prior to us to an incident up at Pakefield Cliffs. All, I can assume is that this guy is fast on his feet and was able to jump out of the way pretty sharpish! 


    Now, if the technology works, this post should appear on my Facebook profile… Here goes…

  • Me in charge? You’re having a laugh!

    This has to be a record in recent times – two weeks on the trot and we weren’t subject to a lecture!


    Mel had devised a drill for two crews and whisked away his helpers for their briefing. Prior to this Mel casually informed me that I would be in charge of the ‘incident’, being Officer in Charge of the first pump.


    No pressure then! I’ve never done this before and perhaps being given just a few minutes notice was a good idea, any longer and I’d have stayed at home to wash my hair or something lame like that.


    It wasn’t just me that would be working outside their ‘comfort zone’. Pump operators were chosen from the non-appliance drivers – in other words using the main pump is not what they would normally do at a job, they’d be in BA, running hose or one of the hundred other jobs.
    My pump operator was Howard Clarke with Paul ‘Nubbs’ Newberry acting as pump operator on the PRT.


    The only information I was given was that we were attending a flat fire, which is all you’ll ever get on a tip sheet, and that two pumps were attending.


    We pulled up at the ‘job’ and I could see a women (ably acted by Rachael ‘Princess’ O’Connell) at the open first floor window. She had a baby in her arms and smoke was issuing from the window. Before we came to a halt I requested that the 9m ladder be placed to effect a rescue here and that a hosereel, a covering jet, and two BA be readied.


    I then proceeded to do a 360 of the building, informing Mel that I would put back an assistance message, persons reported. When I got to the rear of the building I could see another casualty hanging out of the first floor window.


    When the PRT arrived I instructed Richard Belsey to get a 9m ladder round to the rear to rescue the casualty seen hanging out of the window.


    And it’s about now that things started to turn to rat shit. Mel applied the pressure by constantly asking when the next BA team was going to be committed, that we needed a covering jet to protect the adjoining building and where was the water??


    To compound the lack of experience on my part and that of the pump operators we had some ‘problems’ dealt to us. Firstly, the hydrant we had set into was ‘hit’ by a vehicle and put out of action. So, the next hydrant had to be set into. Then Ladder 2 overran its supply and was deemed to be out of action. This meant disconnecting most of the hose from Ladder 2 and reconnecting this to the PRT (including the feed from the hydrant).


    At this point we had lost water and had two BA teams in the building. There was nothing we could do but to sound the evacuation signal (short blasts on the Acme Thunderer whistle). Within a minute the two BA teams appeared and made their way to BAECO (Ben ‘Horney’ Horne). One team didn’t have enough air to be recommited so they were told to dump their sets. The second BA team were kept on air to be recommited once we had a good supply of water again.


    Getting an adequate supply of water was going to be problematic as the PRT was virtually empty.


    For the purpose of the drill I was informed that all casualties were accounted for but we needed to get main jets to work on the building – 3 at the front and 2 to the rear.


    Unfortunately, I instructed the crews to make the three deliveries on the PRT into five by using two dividing breeches. With all the hose we had run out already this meant unravelling the spaghetti-like mess. I’d totally forgotten the Lightweight Portable Pump (LPP) on Ladder 2 and was instructed to get this working. So, the now sweating and ever-so slightly knackered crews carried the LPP to the one remaining hydrant and proceeded to get two deliveries to work.


    And it was about now that we were given the ‘knock off and makeup’ instruction.


    Considering there were a number of people doing jobs they’d never done before, the whole thing could have been worse. I took a lot away from the drill – there’s plenty to think about as OIC, you don’t always get the fire engines that would normally attend, the situation is always fluid and if it can go wrong, it will!


    The two hour drill session certainly went much quicker than if we were sitting in a lecture fighting off the onset of sleep!

  • The Last Open Day at Normanshurst – or is it?

    I don't know where to start…

    What an absolutely brilliant day was had by all – our visitors (in their hundreds), our guests from the other emergency services and for all of us at Normanshurst who worked their magic on the crowds.

    The Open Day has been in the planning for months, gradually coming together and involving more and more people, most of them willingly. These last few weeks had seen the pace quicken as raffle prizes were sought, posters were printed and circulated, stalls were organised, the catering was planned and a thousand other things – all so important to guarantee a great day. The only thing that had to be left to chance was the weather, but thankfully Neil Henderson is on good terms with the Big Boss and he didn't disappoint!

    The day started early for some with Green Watch finishing their final night with preparations for the day. Gradually more and more of the firefighters from Normanshurst arrived, many with their wives and children, all eager to lend a hand.

    Time just flew by as everyone pitched in with the myriad of tasks still to complete. We were all set for our 1100 briefing which slipped to 1115 and finally got going at 1130, with everyone crowded into the mess room. The Police, Ambulance Service and Casualty Union were briefed on their part in the RTC drill, Norfolk's USAR team were given their slot in the proceedings and then it was time to ask for volunteers.

    Now, anyone with a military background will say that you should never volunteer for anything and the same goes for the Fire Service. But there is one occasion when the urge to volunteer gets the better of all of us. Neil was describing the final drill – a fire in the drill tower with casualties to be rescued from all floors. He needed volunteers to be casualties and the casualties were to be women. Like a shot, a sea of hands went up for the honour of being rescued by Suffolk's finest, by a bunch of male firefighters, all wanting the chance to dress in drag! I'll come back to this later…

    Bang on cue Woody Bear arrived to officially open the event by cutting a piece of Fire Service red and white traffic tape. There was already a small crowd in place to welcome Woody and then make their way through the front of the appliance bays and into the drill yard.

    The next four hours was just a whirl of activities. My first drill was for a simulated car fire with me driving the PRT, Mel Buck in charge, Al and Greg in BA and Horney Ben as BAECO. With about ten minutes to go before our allotted time we pulled slowly out of the appliance bay, not wanting to have a close encounter with any of the visitors, and drove round to the rear entrance of the station. On cue, we pulled away with blues and two's for a quick sweep into the drill yard to be confronted not by a raging inferno but a knackered Fiesta with a few wisps of smoke coming out of its windows. Anyway, the drill was over in a matter of minutes, we made all the gear up and made a swift exit.

    Before the next drill I took the opportunity to have a wander. There really was plenty for everyone to see and do. In addition to Fire, Police and Ambulance we also had the inshore lifeboat, Coastguard, vintage fire engine from Seething Airfield and stalls by the bucket full – all designed to part our visitors from their money.

    Next up for me was an RTC drill involving two vehicles, one of which had two trapped casualties. We kept the same crew on the PRT and Ladder 2 was in line astern of us waiting to enter the arena. The drill seemed to go very well and quite quickly too. We even had the Ambulance crew there and the Police were landing a hand too. I think it's safe to say that the WPC's provided excellent casualty care and I would expect that their bedside manner would be second to none.
    The front seat passenger was the first out on the longboard followed a tad more slowly by the driver. I'm convinced she had her feet wrapped around the steering column just to make the extrication more difficult!
    And as quickly as the drill had started, it was all over. Time for a change of clothes as I was soaked – station wear, full fire kit and then the nice plastic hi-viz jacket just to keep all the heat in.

    With time advancing it was the cue for the five damsels in distress to get dressed. And what a sight we were! It was a cross between a bunch of Pantomime dames and Emily 'I'm a Lady' from Little Britain.

    With plenty of noise and not too much campness we climbed the drill tower. I was on the first floor and due to be rescued first via the short extension ladder at the hands of the Clifton Road crew. With my best impression of a Panto dame I hammed up the rescue until finally brought safely to the ground. Then, still in my party frock, I ran out a few lengths of 45 and connected to the hydrant. As each 'lady' was rescued they too joined in until Neil and Andy 'Begz' Jackson were plucked from the drill tower roof by the Turntable Ladder. Then it was 'water on' as five 45's soaked the drill tower and everyone taking part in the drill.

    And that was it, the day was nearly over. The crowd started to disperse, all the kit was made up and in no time you'd never have known anything out of the ordinary had happened. But, actually, something extraordinary had happened. Firefighters and many others had given up their spare time to run a fantastic event. Just to see the look on faces, young and old, was enough to tell you the day had been a success.

    I nipped home to pick up Karen (my wife) for the shindig organised for all the helpers and their families. It was a chance to unwind with a burger and a beer and chat about the day. It's been easy to forget that in the six years since joining as a retained firefighter, Karen has never seen inside the station and has only imagined the things we see and do. So here was my chance to show her around and, earlier in the day, to see what her old man gets up to when his alerter shatters the peace. I don't think we, as firefighters, always appreciate the sacrifices that our wives and partners make for us to do this job. We know and hopefully understand the dangers we face but they can only imagine them – that's got to be far worse.

    I'm not sure how much money was raised but, judging by the queues for food and drink, it should be a tidy sum.

    And just when we thought that was the final curtain for Open Days at Normanshurst it was realised that we may be able to sneak another one in next year, before the new station opens its doors. After this years success I hope we get the opportunity to repeat it all next year…

  • Camp Fire…

    Date: 24th June 2008
    Time: 2338
    Type: Fire
    Address: Camp Road, Lowestoft
    Initial Attendance: Normanshurst 01
    Final Attendance: Normanshurst 02

    These night time shouts are getting to be a habit now. I, along with all the others, need my beauty sleep. And judging by what I saw staring back at me from the mirror the other morning, I need it more than most!

    My finely tuned hearing picked up the reserve Ladder 1 going out on a shout. As the alerter hadn't gone off I felt rather smug as I rolled over and promptly fell asleep. It could only have been a matter of minutes before my alerter was jumping around out in the hall.

    Usual routine but not first across to the station. Denis was still there, with writers cramp, after filling in a raft of forms in relation to the little mishap earlier in the evening with Ladder 1.

    When we arrived at Camp Road you could see that the fire was in the centre of the complex of buildings that occupy this corner site. Danny O'Neill and Rudi Mann had entered the building wearing BA and extinguished the fire. The fire had taken hold on a stairway and had advanced up to the first floor of what is an empty warehouse.

    I went into the building with Dennis, Al and Shambles to hit hot spots and monitor the situation with the Thermal Image Camera. We had to be careful as we moved about on the first floor as the floor was very unsafe – we had already had the odd foot and even leg disappear through the flooring!

    And that was about it… Another disturbed night. Dozing off on the settee is a distinct possibly this evening.

  • BA Exercise at Bernard Matthews, Holton

    There was a somewhat delayed start to this exercise due to a little mishap on our way here.

    Anyway, we got our BA sets sorted and were divided into pairs – I was paired up with Gary Smart.

    Our task was to enter the disused canteen and kitchen area and count how many fire extinguishers were in there and remember their positions. We would then have to mark on plan where they were sited after we had completed the drill.
    Obviously we couldn't fill the place with smoke so we all fitted the faithful 'knickers' to our masks to totally obscure our vision. Just to dispel any myths, we don't use actual knickers, clean or otherwise. Our 'knickers' are just an opaque, elasticated cover that keeps you from seeing anything useful and interesting. Thinking about it, that's exactly what real knickers do. At last, I've worked out where they get their name from!

    Back to the drill…

    I volunteered to go as No.1 and lead the way round the rooms. In all we found 5 extinguishers amongst the tables, ovens, serving counters, sinks, taps, mixers and all the other catering paraphernalia. Ian 'Billy' McMillan accompanied us as BAI (BA Instructor) and gave us good feedback generally but most notably for our communication between team members.

    Once we had marked the floorplan with our 'X's' we changed cylinders and prepared for the second exercise.

    This time I was teamed up with John Hubbard, with me as No.2. We entered the building on the ground floor, following the left-hand wall and carrying out search and rescue.
    A few relatively minor learning points to take away from this one but overall it's good to get a couple of BA wears in.

    And that was it. Just the drive back to Lowestoft, service our sets and away just after 2200hrs.

  • Cow in ditch…

    Date: 17th June 2008
    Time: 2007
    Type: Cow in ditch
    Address: Marsh Lane, Carlton Colville, Lowestoft
    Initial Attendance: Normanshurst 02 and 06 (Unimog)

    It was Tuesday evening, so it's Drill Night and, of course, another lecture! Pete Gray was half way through a lecture on radiation and the new kit we are getting to detect it, when the bells went.

    Our crew on Ladder 2 were first pump out as Red Watch were having a tour of a ship in Lowestoft harbour.

    It was nice to get a shout but there was a collective groan when we learnt it was to a cow stuck in a ditch!

    We drove as far as we could down Marsh Lane, parking at the railway crossing and then getting the Unimog plus a load of extra gear across the line and onto the track that leads down to the marshes.

    We were led to the stranded cow by a guy who'd been out walking his dog when he spotted the unfortunate animal.

    Gradually our plan evolved. A hearth sheet was laid out on the bank of the ditch to give us some purchase (as the whole area was muddy and brimming with cow dung!). The Unimog was positioned face on to the ditch so that we could, if necessary, use its winch to pull the cow out.

    After a bit of pushing and shoving (in the style of James Herriot) Al Soards was able to work a strop under the cow's body, just in front of its rear legs. Unfortunately getting the front strop under was so easy. However with Rudi Mann and Phil Cornford from Red Watch togged up in their dry-suits they were able to work more closely to the cow. They discovered its front legs were tucked right up under its body and this was why we were having difficulty getting the strop under.
    So, to create some space we heaved on the line attached to the rear strop, basically lifting the cows backside up into the air. This did the trick and the front strop was positioned successfully.

    Then it was down to brute force as we pulled at front and rear and hauled the cow sideways out of the mud. After a short breather (for the cow and us) we all pulled again and she made it, unsteadily, to her feet.

    Job done…

    Ten firefighters, an RSPCA inspector and the farmer plus half a dozen onlookers and one bewildered cow, glad that the whole episode was now over. Just a case of getting all the gear back on the Unimog including its coating of glutinous mud and ever so slightly minging cow shit!
    The light was fading as we trudged back to the railway line and Ladder 2. Just time to rinse off the worst of the muck and then back to Normanshurst for 40 minutes of washing and scrubbing – our kit, tools, fire engine, Unimog and us!

    All that for a cow. Just goes to prove that we are still a nation of animal lovers…

    I'm hoping to get some pics on here soon. One of our small but appreciative audience was armed with a camera and took plenty of photos. I'll try and lay my hands on some of those. You never know, there may be one of us all falling on our backsides when the rope on the halter broke as we were doing a bad impression of a pub tug-o-war team!

    And this was Little Pete's (Pete Brown) first shout in charge. Much more memorable than an Automatic Fire Alarm… Not exactly a baptism of fire, more like a baptism in mud!

  • Get out of jail card…

    I've hunted high and low for this video and I've come up trumps!

    Any retained firefighters needing to find an excuse for not doing the DIY, not cutting the grass, not washing up or, indeed, any other job your better half has lined up for you – play this video and make sure the volume is turned up. Then find your shoes and head for the door.

    Note: Make sure your alerter is actually near to the computer before attempting this bit of skullduggery. Most other half's are adept at spotting the wool being pulled over their eyes!

    And for anyone who has not experienced the sound of an alerter at full tilt – just sit back, turn the sound up and imagine this going off at 3am…

    Enjoy…

  • Emergency Services Open Day – Saturday 28th June 2008

    Open-day-2008

    After too long a gap we are holding an Emergency Services Open Day at Normanshurst Fire Station, Lowestoft.

    There'll be plenty to see and do… tons of equipment and fire engines from Suffolk Fire and Rescue including all three of our appliances, the Turntable Ladder and Operational Support Unit from Ipswich and much more.

    We also look forward to welcoming our colleagues from Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service with their Urban Search and Rescue team – their kit is well worth the journey to see!

    We're also hoping to see Suffolk Police and the East of England Ambulance Service.

    There will also be stalls, displays and, of course, Woody Bear to open the whole shebang.

    Don't miss this chance to meet your local emergency services!

  • Hot, sweaty and smelling like kippers!

    "It's all in the mind…", said George Moran, talking about the temperature and conditions inside the smoke house at Bury (Bury St.Edmunds) fire station. "The mind plays tricks on you, makes you think it's hotter than it is", he continued. Note to readers – in the interest of brevity I have left out expletives!

    So here we were, eight of us from Normanshurst to do our hot fire training – BA Risk Critical 2 to give it its proper title. We had four from Green Watch – Mel Buck, Pete Brown, Al Soards and Chris Randall and then the rest of the motley crew made up from the retained section – myself, Richard 'Shambles' Lambert, Jason Balls and Howard Clarke.

    George was giving us a lecture in a style that only George can deliver. It's to the point, there's no waffling and you feel like you've been told 'as it really is'.

    After the lecture we made up our BA sets and then had a quick tea break – the ubiquitous cheese and onion sandwiches making their usual appearance!

    We divided up into pairs, one wholetime firefighter with one retained firefighter. A good idea as we can all learn from each other whether wholetime or retained. We all work with each other regularly anyway as three of the Green Watch members are also retained firefighters at Normanshurst.

    Mel and I paired up with Mel going as No.1 for the first drill. Our brief was to enter the building at ground floor, advance up the staircase and carry out search and rescue on the first floor and the mezzanine floor.

    Just to back track, I'll explain how this is hot fire training. There's a room on the ground floor of the smoke house that has a fire set in it. It's literally a couple of bales of straw in a cradle which has water sprayed on every so often just to keep the smoke going. You wouldn't think that this would create much heat but temperatures can reach 200oC. In fire terms that isn't very hot but it's plenty hot enough for dragging hose around and dragging dummies out!

    Anyway, back to the drill. After doing an initial search just inside the door we advanced to the first floor. I swept out to the left on reaching the landing and immediately found a casualty – a tiny baby sized dummy. So back down the stairs and leave the casualty outside. We then resumed the search on the first floor and up onto the mezzanine floor. It's just a tad warm on that mezzanine but thankfully no casualties to manhandle down the Vertical Metal Ladder (VML).
    We continued on the first floor until we found a second casualty literally at the end of where we could get to. As Mel had the most air he took the casualty and I led the way out.

    We had our debrief which was very positive especially about our communication with each other.

    A quick change of cylinder and we were out for our second wear. I was No.1 this time and our brief was to enter the smoke house at first floor level and carry out search and rescue. We took the left hand wall and searched a number of 'rooms' finding two casualties. Again, we had a good debrief followed by copious amounts of water to try and rehydrate ourselves.

    The final drill of the day took place after lunch and was a combined drill using all four BA teams. The first team (Pete Brown and Jason Balls) entered the smoke house on the first floor (from the drill tower) carrying a charged 45. Their brief was to advance through the building and find the main staircase (situated on the opposite side of the smoke house). They were to descend to the ground floor and start a search as this was a 'persons reported' incident.

    The second team (Al Soards and Shambles) were committed soon after the first team to assist with getting the hose through the building and down the stairs. Al and Shambles were volunteered for this job as it was felt that their strength and destructive powers would undoubtedly clear a path straight through the smoke house!

    Next in were Mel and myself. We made it to the top of the stairs where we were informed by one of the other teams that more hose was needed. So we retraced our steps and dragged through another 30 foot or so. By now both previous teams had passed us on there way out, each with a casualty.

    When we arrived on the ground floor we started searching off the left hand wall and then entered the fire compartment. We could see most of the room from the glow of the fire and sure enough there was a casualty tucked away behind the fire! Mel led the way out with me bringing the casualty. We stopped for what seemed an eternity to brief team four (Chris Randall and Howard Clarke). Standing there, directly above the fire and carrying the dummy I could feel my legs starting to cook. And with legs like mine they wouldn't have looked out of place as a bit of KFC!

    And that was that…

    As George had said, "It's all in the mind…". He was right. If you started to think how hot it was then strangely it seemed to get hotter. While I was stood there waiting for Mel to brief team four, I had the chance to let my mind wander and, yes, it started to think "f**k me it's getting hot in here!"

    The debrief for this drill and the whole day was very positive – nobody had  cocked up…

    Just clearing and cleaning up lweft to do plus the hour and a half drive back to Lowestoft with a bunch of weary firefighters and the very strong smell of kippers!