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This article is courtesy of the BBC and can be found on their news website…

A fire engine had to be towed off a beach in Somerset after it became stuck in the sand.

Firefighters were called to Berrow beach – near Burnham-on-Sea – on Thursday evening after reports of a gorse fire on the sand dunes.

Three tractors were needed to pull the trapped Devon and Somerset vehicle out.

Five days ago an ambulance became stuck on Burnham-on-Sea beach and on 5 April a man and two young girls were rescued from a 4×4 stuck in the mud at Brean.

Mark Newman from the Burnham Area Rescue Boat (Barb) charity said the firefighters were "simply unlucky".

"We would advise other motorists to take special care when driving along the local beaches avoiding sand and mud.

"It’s been a very active few weeks of beach incidents for Barb’s 24-hour rescue crews."

A while back I was given a copy of The Fireman – The Senior Fire Prevention Journal, dated March 1958. That's 50 years ago and things have certainly changed in the Fire Service.

Tucked away near the back of this issue was the following report of a fire. Have a read and see if you think firefighters would have to do the same now. If any firefighters are reading this and have such a 'high-rise' risk on their patch perhaps you could tell us what would happen now…

Firemen 700ft. up Fight TV Blaze
Firemen clung to girders 700ft. above the ground to fight a fire on the B.B.C. television mast at Kirk o'Shotts on January 19.

For two hours, in a freezing wind, strapped to the struts, they struggled with extinguishers to quell a blazing plastic-lined cylinder.

Kirk o'Shotts towers over the bleak Lanarkshire moorland between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Climbed by Ladder
The men, a station officer and a fireman from Motherwell, were taken 550ft. up the mast in a small hoist, then climbed another 150ft. by steel ladders.

The fire, thought to have been caused by an electrical fault, began while B.B.C. engineers were working on the mast.

Can you believe that? Strapped to a girder, 700 feet above the ground and clinging to a fire extinguisher. Men of steel back in those days. The tower at Canary Wharf (One Canada Square) is only 70 foot taller!

Your car is dirty, you don’t fancy getting your hands cold and wet and a soapy hand-wash would be far better than the automatic wash. So what do you do?

Simple! Bring yourself (and your car) to Lowestoft Fire Station (on Normanston Drive) on Saturday 8th March. There you’ll get the full attention of a bevvy of burly firefighters – and me – to make things that are filthy clean again – including your car!

And what do we ask in return? A donation, as much as you can afford, to our charity, the Fire Services National Benevolent Fund. The FSNBF does such fantastic work in supporting everyone who works or has worked for the Fire Service. It provides the services that enhance quality of life for serving and retired fire service personnel and their families.

So pay us a visit from 10am onwards. This will be the best car wash you’ve ever had!

I’ve just looked at the stats of how many people are viewing this blog. And the good news is that more and more people are taking time out of their busy schedules to read my musings, stories and whinges.

So, a big thank you to everyone who has paid a visit here, whether you’re a firefighter at Normanshurst, serving elsewhere in Suffolk or just an interested member of the public.

If you haven’t already found it, the easiest way to get back here is to visit www.alerter.co.uk.

Don’t forget you can comment on any of the postings and as long as you haven’t said anything rude or defamatory, I’ll probably publish it!

  It’s that time of year when the Suffolk Fire and Rescue Male Voice Fog Horns get rolled out to perform to the perplexed people of Lowestoft…

Yes, for two hours we subjected the Christmas shoppers to a selection of carols and Christmassy songs. As usual we had a good turnout – around 20 of us serenading anyone that wasn’t deaf already!

Our thanks must go to Bakers Oven for supplying teas and coffees and to Thorntons for the delicious selection of chocs.

Back on station we set about counting the takings, running a sweepstake at a £1 a go with the winner being the one guessing nearest to the actual total.

Money collected from just two hours of singing came to a staggering £1433.01. This money is to be split between the Fire Service National Benevolent Fund and the Warwickshire Firefighters Family Fund.

Al Soards won the sweepstake and immediately gave it back to be added to our total. So that’s another 30 quid in the kitty – thanks Al.

A prize draw is also being run which should hopefully add a few more hundred to the final tally.

And after the count – dinner. Lil and her staff have done us proud. For just £3 a head she gave us a fantastic three course meal plus cheeseboard, oranges, mince pies, mints and coffee.

Sods Law said it would happen and it did. The bells went down just as the starter was being served and Red Watch made a hasty exit – with all our good wishes ringing in their ears!
And, just as the main course was put in front of me the bells went again – this time for two pumps. So our turn to head for the doors.

We arrived ahead of Ladder 1 to find a slightly smoking microwave, requiring no action from us.

Back to our main course and the rest of the meal plus on the receiving end of some badly aimed food bombs!

Merry Christmas to all the Watches at Normanshurst and all the guys in the Retained section.

Last  evening we had a District exercise at the Bernard Matthews factory at Holton, near Halesworth.

We were the only pump from Lowestoft and left at 1830 hours to allow us plenty of time for the drive down to Halesworth. The PRT (Normanshurst 05) went on standby to Halesworth Fire Station as the exercise was tying up a lot of local resources – Halesworth, Wrentham, Beccles, Bungay, Southwold and ourselves.

I think the main point of the exercise was to give the officers a chance at managing a major incident with multi-pumps, plenty of BA wearers going through 3 different entry points.

For my part I ran out a couple of lengths of 70mm hose and had a short BA wear with Greg.
The BA wear did highlight some ‘learning points’, as the Fire Service likes to refer to cock-ups! There was a problem with communication between BA teams and their respective BA Entry Control points. Much of it is down to there not being any unified way of referencing the different BA teams. We were Team 3 working through Entry Control point 2. But calling us up gets confused with another Team 3. Also there were problems for us contacting our BAECO (BA Entry Control Officer). Because we couldn’t get a reply from our BAECO, we exited the building. In a real incident this is what we would do because, for all we know, BAECO may have been trying to contact us with vital information or to pass on an evacuation message.

The most obvious way of numbering BA teams would be 1 to 5 through the first entry control point, then 5 to 10 through the next. That way you never repeat a team number. There was talk that we should be referred to as Normanshurst Team 1, Wrentham Team 1 etc. But you still have more than one Team 1. It isn’t always easy to distinguish your station name. Perhaps I’ll put a suggestion in!

Everything was made up by 2030 hours and all the OIC’s and officers had a debrief which lasted over 20 minutes. By this time I’d manoeuvred our pump into pole position for a quick getaway and the half hour drive back to Lowestoft.

And no, I didn’t see one snuffling turkey…

Tuesday night for us is Drill NIght. This can be two hours of lectures, some drills out in the yard or a trip out for a pre-planned exercise.

Last night we had the latter. A BA drill at the Christian Salvesen coldstore in Lowestoft.

Here’s how the scenario went:
A forklift truck had overturned in the coldstore, trapping a member of staff under a laden pallet and with a fire ensuing.

BA teams from Clifton had entered the coldstore and laid guideilnes to the incident and had ‘dealt’ with the fire. Myself and Nubs (Paul Newberry) followed the guideline carrying a first-aid kit. Once at the casualty we fitted a neck collar, covered the dummy with a space blanket (probably not much good at minus 30C!) and then huddled up to the dummy to give them some of our body heat.

The next team in (Mark ‘Frank’ Saunders and Greg) dragged in the scoop stretcher which was carrying the airbags, cylinder etc. We then made our way out stopping briefly to rescue another dummy that was spotted down a short alleyway.

After leaving the dummy outside we were sent straight back in with the box of chocks and blocks, needed for packing under the pallet as it got lifted.
And that was our part done.

The evening went really well. Ended with a debrief and a donation of a few boxes of crisps for the hungry masses!

Next week: District exercise at Bernard Matthews in Halesworth. If I catch one turkey snuffling or coughing – I’m out of there!

It’s been ages since I posted any news. Things have been very quiet and other events have made this a time for reflection.

A week has now passed since four of our colleagues lost their lives tackling a fire in Atherstone-on-Stour. The full story of what actually happened is still to emerge.

Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are, of course, with the family, friends and fellow firefighters of these four guys who have died doing a job they loved.

And this brings me on to thinking a bit more deeply about what we do, whether wholetime or retained firefighters.
We are part of a large ‘boys’ club. We have great laughs and work as one team. We very often don’t give a thought to what might be.

What happened last week could so easily happen anywhere at anytime. The most routine of incidents can develop rapidly into a dangerous situation, resulting in serious injury, or, heaven forbid, loss of life.

We try to minimise the danger but the very nature of what we do means that a fine line is often trod.

We mustn’t dwell on these events or else we might as well jack it all in. The events of last Friday are, thankfully, few and far between. But it does bring home how fragile life is and that we should appreciate all that we have.

God bless guys.

I take a few days off and the shouts come rolling in!

The most notable one I missed was a Make Pumps Six to James Paget Hospital in Gorleston. The fire was in the Intensive Care Unit which meant evacuating patients and all the necessary equipment.

Seems all was under control quite quickly and hopefully without too much distress to the patients and their families.

Just realised it's nearly a month since my last post – shows how quiet we've been!

Anyway, this week I had a four day Marine Firefighting course (the old Ship and Port course). Firefighters at coastal stations are required to attend this course as they may be required to fight fires in local ports or on rivers and inland waterways (The Norfolk Broads for us).

Here's a rundown of the four days:

Day 1
Met up with the course attendees: Neal Mills (Princes Street – wholetime), Martin Burglin (Clifton Road – retained), Adrian Harper-Grassing (Orford – retained), Rachael O'Connell (Normanshurst – wholetime), James Winslade (Felixstowe – wholetime), Leon Dally (Newmarket – wholetime), Mick Lowther (Newmarket – retained) and me. Bit odd seeing the two guys from Newmarket but it seems that the water level in the Fens is rising and they may end up in one of the ports should a major incident arise.

Course instructors were Jim Bussey from SFRS and Colin Fulcher from the Port of Felixstowe FRS.

The morning was taken up with lectures giving us a grounding in nautical terms – don't use terms like wall, floor, ceiling and boat in earshot of Colin!

The fun started in the afternoon with a trip to Lowestoft College for our Water Awareness session. The College have a large tank in which many simulations can be staged – ours were primarily based around surviving a jump into the briny!

Kitted in our overalls, deck shoes and lifejackets we had to jump the 20 foot or so into the tank. We exited via the scramble net, helicopter winch or a rather awkward backstroke over to the liferaft and and ungainly entry to it over the side.

Things got more interesting when the wave machine started, the rain came down and the wind started a' blowing…

It was quite disconcerting having to jump from the mezzanine floor into this 'storm'. Timing your breathing was crucial if you weren't to have a stomach full of water (I really hope nobody took a leak in there!). You're getting tired now and everything is more of an effort. You really rely on your team mates to get you into the liferaft.

A short break in proceedings while we individually righted a capsized liferaft. This involved a run and star jump on to the bottom of the overturned liferaft. You then grap hold of a rope and walk the liferaft to vertical whereon it drops swiftly down on to you, completely submerging you underneath. It's then a scramble into the raft and jump out the other side to allow the next flying fish their chance.

The finale is a staged Abandon Ship drill. We congregated at pool level, the lights went out and the order was given to prepare to abandon ship. In the dark we went up to the mezzanine floor, donned our lifejackets and prepared to go over the side. By now the wind is howling, the waves are rising and the rain is pouring down. We were counted over the side, dropping into the inky blackness. In the dark you can't see the waves coming and to begin with it's pot luck whether you take a breath of air or a mouthful or water. With every ounce of energy you strain towards the liferaft and the distant shouts of encouragement from your coursemates. With an unceremonious heave you are launched into the liferaft, face down in a pool of water. You've survived!

I've never been comfortable in water, have never really got to grips with swimming. So this was an experience – one that I would not want to do for real.

We even got a certificate to prove that we got our hair wet and survived the Survival Tank.

Day 2
Muscles are aching that I didn't even know I'd got. Worst affected were my shoulders, hips and stomach. I was glad to see that the others were suffering too – not just the old fogey!

Lectures in the morning included looking at the plans of the MV Torch – the ship we would have an exercise on in the afternoon.

We travelled the length of the delightful Commercial Road to get to the derelict MV Torch. This ageing vessel was used to retrieve dummy torpedos fired by Royal Navy submarines – actually looked a bit like a stern trawler.

Our BA exercise involved entering the ship via its VML (Vertical Metal Ladder) on the foreward deck, used as a means of escape from below decks. I was paired with Adrian from Orford with me as Number 1. We headed aft on a right-hand wall with our intended destination being either the Engine Room or the Generator Room. En route we searched two cabins and then decided to try the Engine Room first. By the time we had reached the bottom of the raking ladder we were on our turnround times, however our Instructor said we could continue. I started to search around the two main engines, the only light coming from our red lensed torches. We located our casualty on the starboard side of the starboard engine (do you like all these nautical terms – I think I'm becoming a real salty sea dog!).
As usual the casualty always seems to be a big bugger. But between us we get the casualty out on via a line dropped down the VML. Our Instructor seemed pleased with the wear only picking up on a couple of minor points.

Other teams had similar successes, so an afternoon well spent in the rusty insides of MV Torch.

We'll revisit MV Torch shortly…

Day Three
Day Three dawns and I have my usual post-BA wear headache. I have a muscle that locks up in my left shoulder that can then cause a headache for most of the following day. Just what I need for our jolly to Felixstowe Docks.

Met Jim Bussey, Rachael and James at Normanshurst and picked up Martin as we passed through South Lowestoft. Arrived at Felixstowe Fire Station just after 8.30 for a brew and then off to the Docks with the rest of the course. Colin met us at the Port Police Station where we were issued with our Visitor Passes.

After a brief visit to the Port Fire Station we went to the tug basin for a tour of a port tug and then off for a spin around the port. We split into two teams with both tugs doing the Royal Review down the line off moored container ships. They then showed off the manoeuvrability, turning a complete circle in their own length and travelling astern as quickly as they do forwards.

Colin took us on a mini-guided tour of the port facility in the minibus. By now my head was banging – fit to blow! We went back to Felixstowe Firetation for lunch with me forcing doen Shepherds Pie and veg.
Thankfully the headache started to shift before we went back to the Port.

Colin left us in the minibus while he went aboard the Hanjin Paris to see if he could arrange a tour for us. After a long wait he signalled us to join him.
The Hanjin Paris is not the largest container ship that Felixstowe takes but at 269 metres long and capabale of carrying over 5300 containers I class it as LARGE!

We climbed the eight or so decks to get to the bridge for a 'breathtaking' view of the port facilities. The view over the harbour was much better though! From the heights of the bridge we descended via the Galley to the Engine Room. Down further to the shaft tunnel and all the way aft till we arrived at their VML escape. Our host invited us to climb the VML to exit at main deck level. This is something that none of the previous courses have been allowed to do. Now this is a long way up! You climb a section, step across and start the next climb. We eventually came to a watertight door, signalling that we were at deck level. The dogs were unfastened but the door wouldn't budge – reminiscent of the moments before breaking out of the tunnel in the film Great Escape! Someone tried a well placed boot to the door – the only result being the wailing of an alarm. This sounded awfully like the Abandon Ship siren we had heard in the survival pool. Had we set that off and this moment frightened Chinese sailors were leaping into the harbour? Was Suffolk sending the full PDA and the OIC about to 'go large' as Colin always said we should?
A wing nut was loosened and then removed allowing us to exit onto the stern of the ship. We exited just as our host arrived having retraced his steps through the Engine Room, up umpteen decks and then all the way to the stern! Through gritted teeth and an inscruteable smile I'm sure I heard him mutter, 'Ahh, You take da pish!'

Colin insisted that we take an afternoon stroll from stern to stem and back again…

A long day, but very interesting especially when the old bonce cleared.

Day Four
The last day of the course starts with an exercise aboard MV Torch.

The scenario is that we have been called to a fire onboard the ship. The fire is out but there are multiple persons unaccounted for.

Martin Burglin and myself went in as a team, me taking the Number 1 slot. Our task was to get as far as the Engine Room or Generator Room and start searching. I made the decision to start with the Engine Room. By the time we had reached the bottom of the raking ladder we couldn't see a thing. Even the dim light from a red lensed torch was denied us, as Jim Bussey had forgotten to bring them! Thanks Jim…

Our search of the Engine Room drew a blank and by the time we got back to the head of the raking ladder we were below our turnround time and therefore headed back onto deck.

After a short while on the BAECO (BA Entry Control Officer) board and as Search Co-ordinator, Martin and I were recommitted to continue searching from where we had left off.

Martin took the lead this time with me hauling the hosereel around everything that it could get caught on. The Generator Room was even more cramped than the Engine Room.
Martin located the casualty at the farthest point away from the raking ladder. We manhandled the casualty to the foot of the ladder and then I took the hosereel up to the top. We somehow managed to get the big bugger up and out onto deck and brought the hosereel with us (always worth a few extra points).

When the exercise was complete and all four casualties found we were able to retrace our steps, this time with a bit of light on the subject. Both Martin and I couldn't believe the small space that we had got through with the casualty in effecting the rescue!

Back to Normanshurst for a fantastic roast dinner, courtesy of Lil and her team.

After dinner we had a short discussion, watched a video and were presented with a certificate for our swim in the pool and also a course photo – thanks Jim. Hopefully, I'll get a few pics on here soon…

All in all, a great course and a good bunch too.