A fire drill with a difference!

Over the summer with the lighter nights, the camera club itinery includes a number of evenings out, but so far they've always fallen on days when I've had something else on. This week though the plan was to visit the local fire station, so I was pleased to coming along, even though I hadn't seen beyond the opportunity to take pictures of fire engines.

After a little confusion about the arrangements, the guys really came up trumps for us by changing into their gear and setting up a full drill in their practice area round the back of the station. Although the rain never stopped, it was quickly forgotton in a fast-paced hour or so where there was so much going on it was difficult to keep up and see the different picture opportunities available.




From a photography point of view, this was a real test in composition, swapping lenses frequently as the exercise developed, all the time trying to keep camera body and lenses relatively dry and the glass free from splashes.




The fire crew used water directly from the river behind the station (incredibly the hosepipe ban extends to fire crews too, at least when training), and simulated tackling a high level fire using the tower in the corner of the training area. This involved setting up the ladders quickly, and climbing through a window area to tackle the 'blaze'.

What I hadn't expected was the structure to the exercise; beforehand the station manager on duty called a drill and set out the objective of the exercise, then control was taken over by the watch manager, who was also being shadowed by as part of their training. Each firefighter had specific responsibilities, whether managing the water supply, laying hoses, supporting the ladders and of course directing the water jets.

Suddenly a series of whistle blasts sounded, this indicated that the 'building' was no longer considered safe, so all the firefighters in the tower had to exit quickly. Even here there were strict procedures to follow: I noticed only one firefighter was allowed on the ladder at any one time, and the ladder was always supported by another. With everyone accounted for, they then set up a ground-level jet, which could continue to douse the flames from a safe distance, and could even be left alone while efforts were concentrated elsewhere.

At the end of the exercise, the equipment was dismantled and dried, the hoses rolled up and the fire engine packed. After this the watch manager and station manager talked the team through the exercise, highlighting what worked well and what could have been better. To the untrained eye though, it was a very impressive display, especially as many on the team were new starters.

I wasn't aware that a number of the crew in Darwen are retained firefighters, having other jobs and careers too. They have to respond to a paging within five minutes to deal with the full range of emergencies alongside their full-time colleagues, and this makes the evening even more humbling. We talked about the anti-social behaviour fire crews experience, like hoax calls, which surely wouldn't happen as often if people could see exercises like this.