Category: Shouts

Incident No.
Date: 27th December 2007
Time: 0315
Type: AFA – Make Pumps 2
Address: Denes 3, Birds Eye, Lowestoft
Initial Attendance: Normanhurst 01
Final Attendance: Normanshurst 01, 02 and 05, Saxmundham, Holbrook (Firefighter Re-robe unit), Operational Support Unit plus pump from Haverhill, Forward Control Vehicle (FCV) from Beccles, 2 ADO’s (Assistant Divisional Officer) and a DO (Divisional Officer).

The Birds Eye factory in Lowestoft  presents us with a multitude of potential hazards – not least the smell of potato waffles being made! Would put you off them for life…

Anyway, 3.15am is a pretty unsociable hour for our little friend to start his merry tune and summon me from my slumbers. When I got across to the station the front doors were shut and just the light for Ladder 2 was on. Either we’d got a job on our own or, more likely, it was a make up.
Looked at the tip sheet to see it was Make Pumps 2 for an AFA but with the added bonus of a possible Ammonia leak. Now this stuff will clear your nostrils even quicker than the Birds Eye Potato Waffles (they’re waffly versatile!).

We were asked by Mel Buck, who was driving for Green Watch, to set into a hydrant on Whapload Road and pass the hose under one of the large entrance gates. Having done this and put hose ramps, cones and lights in place, we went round the back of the factory to rendezvous with Ladder 1.

By this time the incident had been escalated by ADO John Tiffen into a full chemical job! It’s right now that the Cavalry are summoned from all corners of the county to come to one of the other corners of the county!

No action would be taken by the Fire Service until all elements of the chemical response were in place. By now the PRT (Normanshurst 05) had arrived, followed by the FCV and the Saxmundham pump. Saxmundham are the next nearest Chemical station to us and we would need their Gas Tight Suits and wearers to bring us up to our required complement of GTS.

We had everything set up into the zones – hot, warm and cold. A shallow skip was used to provide a decontamination dam. Time was marching on and it really looked like we may see a watery, winter sun rise over the sprawling factory complex.

Thankfully the Birds Eye engineers decided the leak was something they could deal with – possibly brought on by the thought of paying the Special Service charge if the Fire Service did its bit. The likely cost would have been in excess of £10000!

So it was time to make up all the kit and head back to the station.

Back on station and we found the Holbrook pump being filled with diesel having probably only just made it to Lowestoft as the stop message went in. Not sure how close to Lowestoft the OSU and support pump actually got but they couldn’t have been very far away. That’s one heck of a journey – maybe a 140 mile round trip! And they didn’t even get a cup of tea for their troubles.

All these resources coming from across Suffolk may seem like overkill and on this occasion it possibly was. But it’s no good waiting till an incident goes tits up to get the troops rolling. There’s no harm in ‘going large’ and then scaling back if the incident doesn’t get as busy as expected.

Incident No.
Date: 5th December 2007
Time: 0805
Type: RTC – person trapped
Address: A146, Barnby
Initial Attendance: Normanhurst 05 and 01, Beccles 01

I was literally putting my key in the door after being over at the station to book some leave when my alerter kicks off.

As usual, I was first in and put my tally up as driver of Normanshurst 01. Of course, at this time of the morning traffic through Oulton Broad and out towards Beccles is pretty heavy, in both directions.

It was single vehicle RTC situated at the start of the Barnby Bends. I acted as control point sending informative messages to Control from ADO Tiffen (Tiff).

Roof off, spine board in and the male driver was extricated and conveyed to hospital by ambulance.

We cleared our gear and moved the car further off the road and time to head off home. We decided to carry on towards Beccles and cut back around the country lanes – interesting. Every Tom, Dick and Harry met Sally had thought the same. It was a bit of a squeeze in places but nice to get a breath of fresh air!

Actually got my key in the door at around 0930 – around an hour and half after the first attempt!

Incident No.
Date: 9th November 2007
Time: 0516
Type: Threat of flooding
Address: Lowestoft and surrounding area
Initial Attendance:
Five pumps – Normanhurst 01, 02 and 05, Wrentham and Bury 02, 2 x Unimogs, Water rescue teams from Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Chesire, RNLI

The build up in the news last night made it inevitable that we would get some sort of involvement in the greatest flood since 1953.

Fortunately the wind changed direction in the early hours and the worst was thankfully avoided.

It was good to see that Suffolk had called in water rescue capability from far and wide, along with our own teams and additional retained crews.

Normanshurst fire station became the northern base for many of the teams with our drill yard turned into a packed parking space for all the arriving teams and their equipment.

After a few false starts a couple of teams were mobilised but not to anything too serious.

At around 1130 we were all stood down. Initially we were expecting to be required for up to 48 hours!

A big thank you must go to Lil and her catering staff for providing bacon butties, sandwiches and copious drinks for the assembled hoards!

Today the North Sea let us off lightly – I didn't even get my feet wet… She may not be so forgiving the next time.

Incident No.
Date: 6th October 2007
Time: 0732
Type: Fire
Address: Normanston Drive, Lowestoft
Initial Attendance: Two pumps – wholetime crew (Red Watch) and retained crew on Normanshurst 02
Final Attendance: Persons Reported – three pumps (Normanshurst 05)

It seems ages since I've posted anything here, especially a shout.

Well as the title suggests, this one was, quite literally, on our doorstep.

I was driving and eager to know where we were heading – planning my route and all that, only to find it was about 400 yards away, still on Normanston Drive. Smoke had been reported issuing from a ground floor flat.

As we left the Station we heard a Fire Priority message going in from the Watch stating that the incident was now Persons Reported and that an ambulance was urgently required. You get an ambulance as part of the response when an incident is Persons Reported but to hear that it was required urgently certainly made the old ears prick up.

We entered via the very narrow service road, missing the parked vehicles by a gnats tadger! Our four guys in the back were told to don their BA and report immediately to BA Entry Control (BAECO). Dennis ordered me to run out the two lengths of flaked 45 we have stowed for quick deployment in the pump bay. It's quicker to pull out these two lengths than run out hose in the conventional manner. I had only just started with this when Dennis shouted over that I should go and attend to the casualty.
I ran round the corner and down the path towards the flat to see this guy flat out on the pavement. Just seconds before he had been dragged out of his flat by Rudi Mann and Rachel O'Connell of Red Watch.
I took over with Oxygen therapy, ensuring that the cylinder was fully turned on and we were giving him as much as we could.

The guy was covered with the blanket and I could see he was starting to take deeper breaths. Thankfully it wasn't too long before the ambulance arrived and I was able to handover to the paramedics. I kept our oxygen on him while they tested his blood oxygen levels. Although we were giving him 100% oxygen he was only at 80%. The paramedics were considering intubating him and called for another ambulance to attend. Meantime they got a line into his right arm and started to add some fluids.

The needle in his arm brought the guy around a bit but not enough for him to make sense or to fully respond to his surroundings.

While all this was going on other BA teams were committed to the flat to conduct a thorough search to ascertain whether there were any further casualties. Thankfully nobody else was involved.

And that was the excitement over… The police were involved as there were concerns that the fire may have been started deliberately – I don't know what their findings were.

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Incident No.
Date: 18th September 2007
Time: 0215
Type: Smoke in canteen
Address: SLP, Hamilton Road, Lowestoft
Initial Attendance: Two pumps

Like buses, shouts seem to suddenly all arrive together!

I'm sure the Control staff don't take any delight in setting off our alerters at such an ongodly hour (!?*). Not content with the thing shaking itself silly and shattering the peace once, it goes off three times. So while half asleep and rather unsuccessfully trying to insert the right leg in the right trouser leg, you are trying desperately to shut the bloody thing up!

Anyway, I digress…

The tip sheet said 'smoke in canteen' and yes, there were wisps of smoke being whisked away by the brisk and decidely chilly, East wind. Part of the ceiling was taken down as well as some of the floor above to reveal a quite badly burned joist. Much head scratching then ensued to find the cause. Perhaps a crafty fag had been allowed to drop between the floorboards – no, not enough space. Could be an electrical fault – there was a nicely melted cable – no, not that. The likeliest cause was the wall heater in the upstairs canteen which seems to be on 24/7, that wasn't on the wall but was flat out on the floor!

After Mel's Changing Room tactics were finished with we headed back to the Station.

Home at 0330 and knowing that it would take ages to get back to sleep. Call me sad (if you have to), but I decided to get on with some work and spent the next two hours answering e-mails and updating a customers website!

So writing this at just after midday feels to me more like late afternoon…

I can think of a few people who won't be best chuffed if the alerters go off again tonight!

Incident No.
Date: 17th September 2007
Time: 0515
Type: Fire
Address: Africa Alive, Kessingland
Initial Attendance: Two pumps, ended as Make Pumps Six plus Forward Control Vehicle.

Well this week has carried on as last week finished. This time it's a canteen at the Africa Alive wildlife park, just south of Lowestoft.

Crews did well to stop the intense fire from spreading to another eatery and gift shop.

I didn't attend initially but went to the incident at around 0730 to relieve some of the guys who needed to get off to work. Not much doing by this time, pumps ferrying water from a hydrant on the main road, making up kit and preserving the scene so that a fire investigation could be carried out.

Rumour has it that the keepers are looking for a chimp who's in possession of a box of matches and a can of petrol!

Got back on station at around 1000 after being relieved by the Bungay pump. Cleaned some hose, serviced the BA sets and chucked a couple of cheese and onion toasties down our necks by way of a belated breakfast.

Incident No.
Date: 11th September 2007
Time: 1512
Type: Fire
Address: Disused boatyard, Caldecott Road, Lowestoft
Initial Attendance: Two pumps

Back to the disused Pegasus Boatyard on Caldecott Road. A small fire had been started in the cavernous interior.

Nothing for us to do except make up the 45 and hosereel.

The current theory is that someone is regularly going into the shed to strip out cables for their copper, then set fire to rubbish to cover their tracks.

I don’t think this will be our last visit…

Incident No.
Date: 7th September 2007
Time: 1840
Type: Fire
Address: Disused Boat Shed (large), Caldecott Road, Oulton Broad
Initial Attendance: One pump – wholetime crew (Blue Watch), Normanshurst
Final Attendance: Two pumps (Normanshurst 02)

Just mopping up the remains of my stew with a huge dumpling and the alerter starts trilling (I think it’s a new slimming method from Weight Watchers!).

Make Pumps 2 for Breathing Apparatus at a disused boat shed facing on to Oulton Broad. It’s the second time I’ve been to a fire here. I think kids get into the not so secure shed and set fire to piles of rubbish.

Luckily the fire didn’t take hold and was really a case of opening doors at each end of the 100m plus building to let the smoke ventilate.

Incident No.
Date: 6th September 2007
Time: 2046
Type: Fire
Address: Derelict caravans, Green Lane, Somerleyton
Initial Attendance: One pump – wholetime crew (Blue Watch), Normanshurst
Final Attendance: Three pumps (Normanshurst 02 and 05)

I've probably mentioned this before. Why can I be wide awake when the alerter goes off in the middle of the night but if it goes off while having a snooze on the sofa I'm in a befuddled daze!

It was about quarter to ten and I was snoring my way through some crap on the telly when the peace was rudely shattered. A bull in a China shop comes to mind, blundering around getting trousers on, shoes, mobile phone, alerter. I was still first in and saw on the tip sheet that we were going to a fire in derelict caravans at Somerleyton (Make Pumps 2 for water). This would be a nice drive down dark, winding country roads!

We were just about to go mobile when the bells went down again, this time for the PRT. Job was now Make Pumps 3 because of the lack of a nearby water supply.

The fire was in seven derelict caravans left over from some rock concert. I'd seen guys stripping these old caravans only days before – funny how they'd caught fire just now…

Green Lane is a fairly straight and narrow country road with no hydrants available. After dumping our water into Ladder 1, Howard Clark and myself went off in search of a hydrant. I knew from a previous job that there was a hydrant at the junction of Station Road, right in the village. The water pressure there was terrible, so much so that we had locals coming out wondering why they couldn't get any wet stuff out of their taps!

The guys on the PRT had found a better hydrant just through the village on the 'main' road. So we both used this hydrant, running a shuttle service back to Ladder 1 (nearly two miles away).

Back on Station at around 2340 and time to wash the appliances and all the hose that had been used.

Home after midnight, tea and bed…

I can't believe how quiet the month of August was for shouts – I think we only managed five and three of those were in the last week!

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Friday 31st saw two shouts, the first to Next on the North Quay Retail Park (nothing to do) and the second in the early evening to a Make Pumps Two for water. The wholetime crew were a tad isolated and the nearest hydrant was about 400m away. We gave them our tank of water, filled up at the hydrant, waited for the stop message to go in and poodled off back to the Station.

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