Local Authority F&RS v Military Firefighters
by Published on 17th April 2022 08:39 AM
Shortly after the Fire Fighters strike in 1977. Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service were called to a fire on Whale Island Portsmouth. The island is the naval base of HMS Excellent. After knocking down the fire in the building, the firefighters were involved in what is known as ‘damping down and turning over’ in this case a particularly dirty job, covering boots, leggings, tunics and gloves in soot, muck and ashes. When the fire was good and properly extinguished the firemen returned to their fire engine parked quite close to the Royal Yacht Britannia, who’s home port was Portsmouth before decommissioned and berthed in Leith.
Those who know the yacht, will know that when it was in commission, it must be the most pristine vessel on the high seas. The gangway, fancy ropework, decks, bulkheads, brasswork, etc, gleamed in the sunshine. The ‘Yotties’ spend hour after hour bulling the ship and rightly took pride in her appearance, after all, the Royal Yacht was the sovereigns’ boat.
As the weary firemen passed the yacht, sailors on board the ship started calling down to the firemen, telling them, as only ‘Jacks’ can do, how much better the Royal Navy firefighters did when they provided fire cover for Portsmouth during the strike.
“Let’s face it lads,” one of the sailors manning the gangway called down. “We did a better job at firefighting in Portsmouth than you civvies can do.”
The Sub-Officer in charge of the pump, a big man standing over 6 feet tall and weighing in at around 15 stones, sighed, and called up to the quartermaster on the gangway, “Sorry, mate, I can’t hear you. What did you say?”
“I said, we did a better job than you, when you lot were on strike.”
“Sorry, matie, I still cannot hear you. I’ll get a bit closer.” Big Dave made it towards the gangway.
Seeing the state of the Sub Officer’s fire kit, boots and gloves covered in burned debris, heading towards the gangway the quartermaster had an epileptic fit.
“No!” he screamed, “Don’t climb the gangway. We’ve just spent all week cleaning it.”
“Sorry, sunshine, you’ll have to speak up, I still can’t hear you.”
“Oh, no! Please….”
His pleas fell on deaf ears as Big Dave deliberately stamped his boots on the treads, rubbed his leggings up against the fancy ropework and wiped his gloves on the handrail, leaving black smears and dirty marks all over the gangway and on the holystoned teak platforms.
What ‘Jack the Lad’ on the naval ship forgot, was that many of the firefighters in the British fire service are ex-military themselves and can give as good as they take. The above is just good-humoured banter, common amongst the armed forces, one Regiment better than the other, Royal Marines v Paras, etc.
However, as it’s the 40th Anniversary of the Falklands War when ships of the RN were lost mainly through uncontrollable fires, when it comes to firefighting I recon the Royal Navy could have learned a lot from the Local Authority Fire Brigades.
Some members may remember from my profile, I was a Lieutenant (SCC) RNR with the Sea Cadet Corps for 20 years. Around 1980/81 I took a cartload of cadets down to HMS Pembroke for a week’s training course. At the time of our visit, HMS Hermes was in Chatham for a minor refit. The cadets and I were invited aboard the aircraft carrier by Lt Cdr Donald Todd RN who himself was a former Burnley Sea Cadet and a friend of the Unit.
We were shown around the ship, the bridge, the hangers, engine room, galleys, mess rooms and accommodation. Then the cadets were given lunch while I and another sea cadet officer were invited for pre-lunch drinks in the wardroom bar.
A three-ring commander came up to us asking what we were doing in Chatham, etc. I don’t recall his name or what job he did on the carrier, as far as I know he could have been the captain. He then asked me, “What job do you do in civilian life?” I told him I was in the fire service and at the present time I was a Fire Safety Officer working in Bradford. He seemed interested. He then asked me, “What do you think about the fire precautions on the Hermes?” Without trying to be clever and half-jokingly, I told him that if this ship was a factory in Bradford, I’d be seeking a Prohibition Notice and have the place shut down for dangerous conditions. I know a warship is not a factory coming under, at the time, ‘The Fire Precautions Act 1971, but the Commander seemed surprised and shocked, he asked, “Why was that?” I told him what I thought about the means of escape and protected routes, long dead-end travel distances, I mentioned the long uninterrupted runs of flammable plastics, the polyurethane mattresses and the non-cotton No.8 shirts and trousers and a few other bits and pieces that constituted dangerous conditions. “Em,” he said, thanked me and moved on. (WYF&RS replaced all nylon shirts and working clothes for cotton in 1980 after clothing melted and stuck to the skin of Keighley firemen when they were caught in a flashover. One fireman, Jeff Naylor, died from his burns).
I often wonder if that Commander on the Hermes thought about what I said during and after the Falklands War in 1982. When nearly all the Royal Navy ships that were lost in the war, was through rapidly spreading fire, with polyurethane mattresses and plastics adding to the deadly toxic smoke. Although I do know post-Falklands War, the RN has learned their lesson and improved fire safety and firefighting equipment on warships to a much higher standard.
Another instance was when the captain of a minesweeper HMS Aveley asked me the same question. This time the officer was a stuffed shirt lieutenant who I didn’t particularly like. “What did I think of the firefighting equipment on the Aveley?” I’d already seen the hose, BA sets and other equipment slung in an untidy mess on the floor of a storeroom, I said if my firefighters treated their equipment and breathing apparatus like that, I’d give them right old rollocking. He was not well pleased.
But, IMHO that’s the difference between professional local authority whole-time firefighters who attend fires and emergency incidents nearly every single day and military firefighters who attend the odd incident now and then. L A firemen know that a small piece of grit in a BA demand regulator or in the hand-controlled branches can render them useless, cause havoc, excessive water damage or even death to a wearer, that’s why their equipment isn’t dumped on the floor of a locker.
PC 710198
