Fire service cuts-we rarely have house fires any more.

[sussexjob]

Has the older pistonheads noticed the dramatic fall in house fires in recent years due to smoke alarms, rcd's. fire proof materials also the policy if no one's inside to just let it burn and fight from a distance, whilst I know they do a great job at accident scenes but is it time for a leaner "rescue service" rather than old lumbering big red trucks ?

[Vipers]

Flixbourgh............

I think the on scene commander, even before he arrived had called in and ordered "Pumps 20"

Edited by Vipers on Tuesday 12th October 06:56

[thinfourth2]

They don't just use the big red trucks.

There is some utterly stunning bits of kit out there. There is a motorbike based system that can easily put out a car fire.

And there is this toy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIDe3uYIIOM who needs windows to fire a fire in a building

[CoolC]

One thing I have noticed, is that there seems to be a lot more cheifs now.

A house a few doors down caught fire when the muppet replacing the felt on the dorma got carried away. Two fire engines turned up and got it sorted very quickly and efficiently before too much damage was caused.

But there appeared to be 5 yes 5 "unmarked" fire cheifs cars with blues and twos there. Seems a lot of cheifs compared to fire fighters.

[MilleniumFalcon]

Are you talking about a reduction in personnel, or a change from traditional fire engines to small fire units?

If its the latter, i'd like to try and counter your suggestion - i work as a firefighter, so hopefully it wont come across as biased, but as a view from the shop floor.

Fire engines, and firefighters dont just go to house fires and car accidents. Chemical incidents, rail, airraft, high rise, below ground, flooding etc etc. All this requires specialist equipment thats carried on the appliance.

Now you could counter that a small fire unit wont be called out to a specialist job. But just because a job is called in as something, thats got no bearing on how big or small that job actually is. Case in point, a week ago we were called to a tanker overturned, RTC, no other details. When we got there it was not a tanker, but a normal artic, with a container on the back, which was now leaking a large quantity of an unknown chemical. Hence an RTC has now become a chemical incident. Which requires different procedures, equipment, amount of personnel and supervisory officers. And only the last one wasn't already there, although the roles would be filled but other persons until higher ranked officers arrived.

AFAIK we are still the only one of the 3 main emergency services (not including RNLI or the CG) who will despatch an appliance for every single call. You call, a fire engine turns up. If 99 times out of a hundred, all that gear and personnel in not required, then i can see the logic in people thinking its a waste. But that 1 in a hundred chance, when its needed...

I just think theres value in being better to have something and not need it, than needing it and not.

[telecat]

This is a service where you cannot "get away" with scrimping. You need maximum capability on site just in case. Let's face it do you want to phone 999 and have to go though a check list so they "know" which appliance to send to the scene?? I don't think I'd be that qualified at a fire or RTA to even answer the questions.

Edited by telecat on Tuesday 12th October 11:10

[Vipers]

thinfourth2 said:

And there is this toy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIDe3uYIIOM who needs windows to fire a fire in a building

I am not sure what it would be used for, we have been using these high powered jet guns in the diving industry for over 20 years now, around 20,000 psi at the nozzle (1378 bars), so it shows punching a small hole in a steel plate, then what? Once the hole is punched, there is not much water actually coming out the end to extinguish a fire.

We must not loose sight of a massive fire at a chemical plant, or anything else due to terrorists in this day and age, which may need a number of fire appliances to attend.

Houe fires may be going down, thank god, but I do feel we need to maintain the level the cover we have with our emergency services.

[JB!]

If the current axe swingers ARE going to make cuts to the fire service, then they need to be done very carefully.

[thinfourth2]

Vipers said:

thinfourth2 said:

And there is this toy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIDe3uYIIOM who needs windows to fight a fire in a building

I am not sure what it would be used for, we have been using these high powered jet guns in the diving industry for over 20 years now, around 20,000 psi at the nozzle (1378 bars), so it shows punching a small hole in a steel plate, then what? Once the hole is punched, there is not much water actually coming out the end to extinguish a fire.

Actually traditional fire fighting is quite ineffective regards water use as they chuck in loads of water and most of it pours straight out the bottom.

With the Hi-Fog concept you fire in a little atomised water which converts to steamtaking a huge amount of heat out of the area and it also forms a smothering cloud of steam so attaching the fire triangle from two sides.

When used correctly it is stunningly effective

I can't find it but there is a video of a guy with a backpack based system putting out a car fire with about a bucket full of water

[Frankeh]

thinfourth2 said:

Vipers said:

thinfourth2 said:

And there is this toy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIDe3uYIIOM who needs windows to fight a fire in a building

I am not sure what it would be used for, we have been using these high powered jet guns in the diving industry for over 20 years now, around 20,000 psi at the nozzle (1378 bars), so it shows punching a small hole in a steel plate, then what? Once the hole is punched, there is not much water actually coming out the end to extinguish a fire.

Actually traditional fire fighting is quite ineffective regards water use as they chuck in loads of water and most of it pours straight out the bottom.

With the Hi-Fog concept you fire in a little atomised water which converts to steamtaking a huge amount of heat out of the area and it also forms a smothering cloud of steam so attaching the fire triangle from two sides.

When used correctly it is stunningly effective

I can't find it but there is a video of a guy with a backpack based system putting out a car fire with about a bucket full of water

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YApd6wN6Sw&feature=related

Something like this?

[thinfourth2]

Frankeh said:

thinfourth2 said:

Vipers said:

thinfourth2 said:

And there is this toy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIDe3uYIIOM who needs windows to fight a fire in a building

I am not sure what it would be used for, we have been using these high powered jet guns in the diving industry for over 20 years now, around 20,000 psi at the nozzle (1378 bars), so it shows punching a small hole in a steel plate, then what? Once the hole is punched, there is not much water actually coming out the end to extinguish a fire.

Actually traditional fire fighting is quite ineffective regards water use as they chuck in loads of water and most of it pours straight out the bottom.

With the Hi-Fog concept you fire in a little atomised water which converts to steamtaking a huge amount of heat out of the area and it also forms a smothering cloud of steam so attaching the fire triangle from two sides.

When used correctly it is stunningly effective

I can't find it but there is a video of a guy with a backpack based system putting out a car fire with about a bucket full of water

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YApd6wN6Sw&feature=related

Something like this?

Nope thats low pressure chemical

[thinfourth2]

This sytem

http://www.ifexuk.com/carfires.htm

[Vipers]

thinfourth2 said:

Frankeh said:

thinfourth2 said:

Vipers said:

thinfourth2 said:

And there is this toy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIDe3uYIIOM who needs windows to fight a fire in a building

I am not sure what it would be used for, we have been using these high powered jet guns in the diving industry for over 20 years now, around 20,000 psi at the nozzle (1378 bars), so it shows punching a small hole in a steel plate, then what? Once the hole is punched, there is not much water actually coming out the end to extinguish a fire.

Actually traditional fire fighting is quite ineffective regards water use as they chuck in loads of water and most of it pours straight out the bottom.

With the Hi-Fog concept you fire in a little atomised water which converts to steamtaking a huge amount of heat out of the area and it also forms a smothering cloud of steam so attaching the fire triangle from two sides.

When used correctly it is stunningly effective

I can't find it but there is a video of a guy with a backpack based system putting out a car fire with about a bucket full of water

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YApd6wN6Sw&feature=related

Something like this?

Nope thats low pressure chemical

TBH I dont believe that hand held extinguisher actually put the fire out, wooden building, America perhaps by the hats............

[Vipers]

thinfourth2 said:

This sytem

http://www.ifexuk.com/carfires.htm

Now thats imprressive.

[Frankeh]

Vipers said:

thinfourth2 said:

This sytem

http://www.ifexuk.com/carfires.htm

Now thats imprressive.

It's called an "Impulse gun"... I want one so badly.

[Vipers]

sussexjob said:

Has the older pistonheads noticed the dramatic fall in house fires in recent years due to smoke alarms, rcd's. fire proof materials also the policy if no one's inside to just let it burn and fight from a distance, whilst I know they do a great job at accident scenes but is it time for a leaner "rescue service" rather than old lumbering big red trucks ?

Intestingly enough, my local paper tonigh says "

A warning has been issued after it was revealed hundreds of North east blaze hit homes didn't have woring fire alarms. The new statistics, released by the Scottish Government showed that of 666 house fires in the Grampian area, 179 were in properties which did not have smoke alarms installed.

So I am wondering if there really is a dramatic fall, unless a survey shows it.

Hope all our readers have "Working" smoke alarms, and "Carbon Monoxide" alarms.

Keep safe. And before anyone asks, it really did say 666.

[ninja-lewis]

Merseyside Fire and Rescue do - they attribute a reduction of over 50% in fire deaths since 1999 to actively educating households and fitting smoke alarms.

http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/firerescue/good...

[DangerousMike]

we had some fire safety training today... the usual questions gets asked which is "if there was a fire, would you enter the building?" and the usual answer "not a bloody chance" (paraphrasing)... don't blame them though.

[Vipers]

DangerousMike said:

we had some fire safety training today... the usual questions gets asked which is "if there was a fire, would you enter the building?" and the usual answer "not a bloody chance" (paraphrasing)... don't blame them though.

Absolutely, and if your in the buiding, get out and stay out. Hope we never have to fid out.

[Vipers]

[quote=ninja-lewis]Merseyside Fire and Rescue do - they attribute a reduction of over 50% in fire deaths since 1999 to actively educating households and fitting smoke alarms.

http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/firerescue/good...

Good reading, certaintly points to fitting smoke alarms.