Category: Shouts

March has been a quiet month for us (I know, I mentioned the Q word but we have been very Q for far too long). I think Lockdown has had an affect. And with that you just know that when your alerter next wakes up it’ll send your heart rate up a notch or three.

Even before Lockdown I had set up office at the bottom of the garden. Proper office not just the 8×6 garden shed with the lawn mower chucked outside to make some space.

You get the picture…

Actually cracking on with some work when my alerter springs into life, sending me clattering from behind my desk and bursting out of the door. A good head of steam built up as I charge along the garden path before negotiating the gate and off on the final 100m or so to the fire station.

Since the start of the pandemic we’ve used a new route into the station. You see, we share our station with the Ambulance Service and they get to access the front door which is then closest to the parts of the station they use. This does mean that whoever of our crew that’s first in, quite often that’s me, has to unlock the gate to the car park just before the hoards arrive. In my head the Countdown clock is heading towards the final few seconds as I fumble with the lock and swing the gate wide open. Phew! Made it with seconds to spare before the cars start piling in.

In the door, tally up as driver and then take a peak at the printer to see what’s occurring.

We’re off to a building fire at the Piggeries on Queen’s Highway in Camps Heath – a couple of miles from the fire station.

It’s two pumps to a building fire and not long after leaving the station we can see the pall of dark smoke rising skywards.

Camps Heath is right on the edge of town and is the start of open country, farmland and then marshes and the River Waveney. The roads get narrower until we hit the muddy, potholed track that is rather grandly called Queen’s Highway.

The nearest hydrant is around 12 lengths from the incident so we drop of two of the crew plus a number of lengths of 70 so they can make a start at securing a water supply.

By now we’ve heard the assistance message go in for Make Pumps three.

I continued up to the old piggery and dumped our 1800 litres of water into S36P3 from Lowestoft South.

As soon as the third pump arrived it was able to further supply the firefighting appliance and they headed back to the hydrant to start a water shuttle.

Two hosereels were used from a doorway before a BA team were committed into the building. Thankfully it had been a quick knockdown with our water arriving just in time.

And then there’s all the hose to make up – muddy and needing to be cleaned back at the station. Once we were all stowed we made our way to the hydrant to jostle for position with an ambulance and a few police cars, all crammed into the tight lanes.

Time for a more sedate drive as we returned to North Lowestoft Fire Station and the inevitable clean up…

What3Words location of incident: triathlon.curve.pricing

If you've read any of my blogs posts you'll see that there's very rarely an ideal time for my alerter to spring into life and have me hotfooting it to the fire station.

Yesterday proves the point.

I've recently started working with a great local business and was in the middle of taking on board a ton of technical information, praying that my little grey cell could cope. And the shrill call of my alerter going ape had me mumbling apologies and heading for the exit at speed.

With the incessant noise rattling in my ear I found myself driving behind Miss Daisy all the way to the fire station. It only took minutes but seemed a lifetime!

Got my tally up as driver, fire kit stowed on the pump and a few seconds later we were heading off towards Oulton Broad. The tip sheet informed us it was a boat fire and the boat was moored alongside.

As we approached Harbour Road we were greeted by a guy pointing us in the right direction. Straight after the level crossing another man points us into Sea Lake Road. And the guidance continued right to where we needed to be.

Now it's worth pointing out that this was really helpful for us. We knew where Sea Lake Road was but off this there are numerous tracks leading to boatyards, slipways and the like. We could see the growing pall of smoke but would not have been able to guess the right track to take. So thanks folks!

This is not to be confused with someone standing right opposite a burning building pointing out that the one with the flames coming out of the windows is the property we're looking for…

I digress.

Unusually for us we were first pump in and having threaded our way through some tight gaps we were confronted with the sight of a motor cruiser well alight.

We couldn't get close to the boat so lengths of 45 were run out and round onto the jetty. Water on and our crew starting to knock back the flames. But at this rate we would be out of water in short order.

By now the watch from Lowestoft South had arrived but had been mobilised in their water rescue capacity. Thankfully our on call firefighter colleagues from Lowestoft South were close behind and were able to supply us with their tank of water.

But we'd still need more and the nearest hydrant was over 300m away.

So light portable pump off and set into the river to supply our pump and on to the deliveries.

By now a dividing breach had been added to allow two 45's to be got to work on the jetty closely followed by our hosereel, extended to the full 120m.

As driver I need to be keeping tabs of what equipment gets taken off the pump but with all the hose gone, LPP, TIC, axes, ceiling hook, lifejackets, lighting, DeWalt saw and who knows what else – I gave up!

Although using jets from the jetty had subdued the fire it was decided to commit two BA wearers on to the boat. Now with the boat starting to settle by the stern and severely damaged by fire the BA team were ever so slightly alarmed when the engine started, ran for a while and stopped and then did it again. Needless to say they were not keen on taking the boat for a jaunt down the river in its present condition!

With the excitement over it fell to us to hang around in the gathering darkness and rain while the Harbour Masters team set up environmental protection to prevent fuel leaking away from the boat.

Back at North Lowestoft Fire Station the rest of our crew were on station for our Tuesday night training had nipped to the chippy for us and then set to cleaning all the hose and equipment.

And because of the fire we missed doing our prearranged training… a BA wear on board a ship in Lowestoft harbour, simulating a ship fire and searching for casualities. Maybe next week…

August is turning into a busy month for the firefighters at North Lowestoft Fire Station…

12 shouts so far ranging from the bowling alley fire in Great Yarmouth and exploding cylinders in Long Road, Lowestoft to fires in the open, AFA's and 'male on bus shelter'.

Yep, we've had them all so far.

'Male on bus shelter' did raise the odd eyebrow but that's exactly what we had…

What the tip sheet didn't mention (because no one had told Fire Control) was that there was a young female requiring medical attention at the same location.

So an assistance message was put back requesting an ambulance. I then spent a few minutes on the mobile chatting to Ambulance Control as they asked a few probing medical questions.

I think my medical terminology left a lot to be desired but it certainly made the control operator laugh.

If my medical knowledge is anything to go by I'm not sure how the proposed co-responding will fair!

Do you fancy joining us as an On Call Firefighter? We have vacancies at North Lowestoft Fire Station. 

Visit the Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service website for more information…

Sunday evening, just finished my tea and my alerter springs into life shattering the peace.

Yes, I know, it's been quite a while since I last posted on here. But oddly enough we've been quite busy these last couple of weeks including our crew being sent to the Make Pumps 15 fire in Regent Road, Great Yarmouth.

Anyway, back to the plot…

The alerter's incessant racket always has me clattering round the house – change from shorts to jeans, pull on a pair of socks, shoes, pick up keys, mobile and the still clammering alerter.

The usual jog across to the fire station only to be confronted with the tip sheet saying we're on standby… Bugger! Always the bridesmaid and never the bride…

A call to Control and seconds later the station turnout alarm gets itself all worked up and us grabbing fire kit and heading for the pump.

It's a Make Pumps 3 now to a shed fire.

Now I don't know about you but my shed measures a pretty measly 8 x 6 – certainly not warranting 3 pumps. Maybe it's a super-sized shed of epic man cave proportions. Time will tell…

I'm driving and we head out on to Normanston Drive in the direction of Oulton Broad and our final destination of Long Road, Lowestoft. In the back of my mind as I weave the pump through traffic is that this can't be much – maybe supply them with water, job done, home for tea and medals. How wrong I was!

We pull up and immediately two BA are required from our pump. Now, usually, as driver you're not first choice for BA, that's the job of the guys in the back. But because we had mobilised with a crew of four and Ollie, our newest recruit, hasn't done BA training as yet, I got the short straw.

James and I got our sets on and reported to BA Entry Control. We were told to go under air straightaway and were tasked with going to where the fire had started – the shed. The hosereel was already in place and we gave a second shed that was starting to burn a good soaking. But now to the main event…

The first shed was very close to a brick built workshop and right up against an oil tank that was now leaking. The fire had been so intense that it had it had spread to the workshop and was now going through the roof. A call on the radio from BA Entry Control (BAECO) had us withdraw as there were possibly cylinders present in the workshop.

Out to BAECO and wait to be retasked. Seconds later we were told to go to the main entrance of the workshop and direct a 45 into the building from there. Other BA teams joined us as we tried to hit the fire through the door and windows and also through the gaping holes in the roof.

Then the ominous sound of gas cylinders exploding, blowing large holes in the roof and sending flames shooting in the air. But with our heads down concentrating on keeping up the flow of water on to the fire, there's only the briefest chance to contemplate if any large lumps of cylinder are about to crash down on to you.

As we're working in the open we carry on working till just before our 'time of whistle' and then head back to BAECO. Tallies in our sets and then back to our pump and a very welcome bottle of water…

In all 8 BA teams were used, facing the threat of exploding cylinders at very close quarters, working hard to contain the fire and not let it spread to adjacent homes and businesses.

And just under four hours after arriving we made up all our gear and headed to Lowestoft South Fire Station to clean and service our BA sets. Then back at North Lowestoft Fire Station all our fire kit gets bagged up for cleaning as we seem to have been covered from head to toe in oil, paint and for some, 'dog toffee'.

So what was meant to be a relaxing Sunday evening in front of the box ended up being completely different.

All credit to the highly motivated firefighters from Lowestoft South (wholetime and on call) and our crew from North Lowestoft, Wrentham and Beccles…

Edging slowly down Cotmer Road in the lunchtime traffic towards The Flying Dutchman and our Mobile Data Terminal (MDT) does its little doorbell ring. Now our MDT is slow at the best of times and we thought it was just updating our status after leaving Lowestoft South Fire Station a few minutes back.

After a few more seconds and a couple of prods of the screen, Gary announced, “We’ve got a shout!”

I let the traffic in front move off as we waited to see to where and what we were now going to be heading to.

“Horse in mud, Flixton Road, Blundeston”, said Gary…

That’s good – it’s in the direction we’re travelling but right through a very busy Oulton Broad.

Reach forward press the 999 button to get all the blue lights on followed by the 2 C/O button to changeover from the old two tones to the 3 different ‘yelps & wails’ that we now have.

The queue of traffic has already seen us light up like a giant Christmas tree and has started to edge to the side of the road to give me some room. Down the outside of the traffic to The Flying Dutchman with the odd blast on the bull horn to warn the traffic at the lights.

Once round the corner we’re confronted with nose to tail traffic over the rail bridge… So slowly creeping by them until we near the top and oncoming traffic sees us, stops, and lets us through. Then some weaving in and out and we make it through Oulton Broad and out along Gorleston Road towards Blundeston.

Before we reach the incident I stop using the the sirens and then turn off the lights – hopefully this won’t then spook the horse.

Over the radio we hear that the Water Rescue Team and the Unimog have mobilised from Lowestoft South and are following on behind us.

I park our pump out of the way so that the Unimog and the Water Rescue Team have plenty of room to set up. Driving the support pump means staying with the vehicles, fetching and carrying and putting back messages to Combined Control.

The guys got kitted in the dry suits while lines, spades and a length of 70mm hose were traipsed across the muddy field to where the horse was up to its neck in thick, glutinous mud.

Around an hour passed as the crews worked to free the horse – digging around its legs and using the length of 70 around its backside to pull it out.

And, seemingly none the worse for wear, the mare was reunited with her foal and all was well with the world…

We then provided water through a hosereel to wash down the crews and get mud and other stuff (!?) off.

Job done – back to the station for tea and medals… 

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It's always a shock to the system when my little vibrating sidekick springs into life in the wee small hours… And at precisely 0333 this morning my heart rate shot through the roof as I tumbled out of bed in response to my alerter giving it the big 'un.

Bleary-eyed I jogged over to the fire station and, being first in, took the drivers slot and grabbed the tip sheet to see where and what we were off to.

With sleep still clearing I registered that we had a single vehicle RTC on Denmark Road, near the railway station and barely a mile away and that the car was on its roof with persons trapped. That certainly focusses the mind!

This was my first shout in our new pump as driver – not the time of day I'd have chosen to operate this state-of-the-art piece of kit. Daytime and me more fully awake would have been much better! Beggars, choosers and all that…

Out of the station and away and my chance to experience the acceleration of these new pumps – it's impressive! We heard the watch book in attendance and we were there just minutes later.

The car was actually on its wheels and sitting just inside the railway station car park. It had collided heavily with a lamppost on its nearside and then completely wiped out a section of sturdy metal railings before coming to rest. The section of dislodged railings ended up about 20 metres away from the car which together with the precarious position of the lamppost, suggested the car had been travelling at slightly (!*?) above the 30mph speed limit.

There was just the driver to deal with and paramedics were already taking care of him. Luckily there was no front seat passenger. If there had of been they would have taken the full impact of where the nearside door impacted with the lamppost…

All three fire crews got to work stabilising the car, setting up lighting, cutting gear and all the other bits of kit needed to extricate the casualty. Glass was managed, the drivers door was opened out to create an exit if needed in a hurry and then the roof was cut off. Long board in and the driver was out and on his way to hospital.

Job done. Time to pack away all the equipment and head off home. Too late to crawl back into bed. Instead it's a cuppa and a Digestive to dunk…

I suppose getting a shout is an ideal excuse to leave the grass-cutting half finished…

So when my little black number starting vibrating in my pocket mid cut I was more than happy to abandon the gardening till later.

By the time I’d replaced shorts with jeans and hot footed across to the fire station, Dennis was already in and called out that we were off to an RTC, persons trapped at Kessingland.

I slapped my tally into the drivers position and got all my fire kit stowed on the pump. Handheld radios onboard, tip sheet in hand, main scheme radio switched on, fire up the engine, blues on and wait as the crew start tumbling in through the front door.

With five onboard I turned out onto Normanston Drive and within a few hundred metres we encountered the traffic backed up all the way from the railway line gates in Oulton Broad. Nothing for it but to proceed down the outside of the queue right the way to the line gates which were shut waiting for theNorwich bound train. So there we were, at the mercy of the trains, waiting for the barriers to raise. And sitting across the other side of the tracks was John, one of our crew, who hadn’t been able to beat the line gates and make it to the station for the turnout.

Once we cleared that little obstacle we made good progress through the afternoon traffic, heading out of town past Lowestoft South Fire Station. 

It wasn’t long before we hit the tailback from the incident. We passed through the Police cordon and headed up to the other emergency vehicles.

Once I’d got my fire kit on I joined our crew as the the worst affected vehicle was being winched from a ditch at the side of the road. In the middle of this I got a call from Dennis on the handheld radio to make my way back to him ASAP. We’d been tasked with a new job…

As we’d arrived at the incident we had passed a car pulled up on the verge that had got just minor damage. It now seemed like we may need to take the roof off to enable the extraction of the female passenger, who was medically trapped.

I reversed the pump closer to this car and started to set up an equipment dump – combi tool, hydraulic hose, generator, sharp protectors, toolkit and more.

The Air Ambulance had by now landed in a nearby garden. The doctor and paramedic had examined the male driver of the car from the ditch and were now coming over to check our female passenger. 

To save cutting the roof from the car the doctor was happy for us to remove all the rear seats from the car and use a long board to remove the passenger. This was much quicker than having to remove the roof…

Our casualty was now in the car of the Ambulance Service and our job was done. Time to pack everything away, watch the Air Ambulance leave the scene with one casualty aboard and then a hot debrief for the fire crews.

With the time now approaching 5pm traffic was stacked up coming out of Lowestoft as drivers tried to work out the best way to get around the RTC scene. And we had to do likewise and return through Lowestoft at a much more sedate pace that that at we came…