Relief from above

I was basing sprinklers on shore side installations John and certainly in high rise and in industrial and commercial premises they do do a good job . I once sat having a casual chat on a channel crossing with a department of trade and Industry surveyor who was going off on his holiday and want to look at the engine room . We were talking about gas carriers and north sea drilling rigs in his opinion bearing in mind the safety aspects that would be applied in an oil refinery for which he had some experience the average rig should be 5 miles long and two miles wide and the same would apply to a gas carrier . I think that he stated your side installations you had to have a two mile clearance from the storage to the accommodation . Add additional couple of mile to the flare stack . I wouldn't expect some little sprinkler to put out either gas carriers or drilling rigs . What they are good at is putting out small fires in compartments so the original flaming refrigerator in the London fire would have been extinguished . 1 worrying facts about this that concerns me is some of the residents and said about the flickering power supply and add hinted to the the reduced voltage . Just using simple Ohm's law then lower the voltage the current goes up increase the current the heat goes up when the heat goes up things melt and catch fire . Looking at this from my experience in factories ashore I would think that I would be sending an electrician out to check the voltage in all high rise flats and make sure you wasn't losing it somewhere , having done some fire brigade training they have a huge problem with high rise with ladders and platforms that they can't read after I believe something like the fifth floor this is why I think sprinklers are essential . The insulated cladding though is absolutely insane because the fireproof version is more expensive but I think that whoever cut the corner and put it in the non fire retardant one should be doing time in jail

#10.. should have said crank shaft and not crankcase which I was told about after. JWS

Hi John. Like many of us I went through the Merchant Navy Training Board Fire Fighting Course. It was held at the Macdonald Road Fire Station Leith Scotland. This was a real eye opener and left you with a very healthy respect for what fire fighting was all about. There was a section of a mock ship with various decks. We were split into teams and depending which part was set on fire concoct a plan of action. It was bloody frightening pitch black, bulkheads red hot trying to find the seat of the fire wearing breathing apparatus. I hoped at the time this was the closest I would come to the real thing.
Bill

Hi Bill, most of us have done the fire fighting courses think I have done about 3 times. That's all one seemed to do later at sea was different courses will have to hunt out the info on ones I did. Off hand without looking, was the Browns Gyro, (factory) numerous Radar courses, 1st Aid, shipmasters medical course,HUET, survival, FRC, oil dispersant, helicopter landing officer, MN defense, plus others, the worse one for me was the HUET as suffer from claustaphobia and sitting on your head in 12 feet of water in a mock up of a helicopter and having to get across 3 bodies and push the window out and go for the surface, was not my idea of a pleasant mornings walk. In Australia this was every 12 months and had to make 6 escapes each time from different angles. The people who run these courses must make a good living at, I was congratulated once as you are monitored on TVs screens as came over the bodies sitting strapped in next to me,pushed the window out and got to the surface pronto, they didn't know it was the self survival instinct and if anyone had got in the way they wouldn't have stopped me. If anyone doesn't have all the certs. they will be a long time looking for a job in certain parts of the industry. So is best to have a sponsor as they aren't cheap. Cheers JWS

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Originally Posted by Bill Morrison

Hi John. Like many of us I went through the Merchant Navy Training Board Fire Fighting Course. It was held at the Macdonald Road Fire Station Leith Scotland. This was a real eye opener and left you with a very healthy respect for what fire fighting was all about. There was a section of a mock ship with various decks. We were split into teams and depending which part was set on fire concoct a plan of action. It was bloody frightening pitch black, bulkheads red hot trying to find the seat of the fire wearing breathing apparatus. I hoped at the time this was the closest I would come to the real thing.
Bill

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Did mine at Hull and Plymouth and those boys really put you through it, they said quite a few dropped out of the Plymouth course as it was physically demanding and would not accept anyone over the age of 40 on the course, but glad I did them as had to use the knowledge gained on a couple of occasions, once in my sea career and once in my shore career but involving a ship in Dubai where the Greek crew apart from a couple left the ship and wouldn't return until the fire was out, the vessel was on charter to the shipping company I was managing and we needed that cargo, so no way was I going to let it burn out and natural seaman's instincts surfaced when a ship was in trouble. It's surprising how much you don't know until you go on those courses and how the incorrect use of hoses and nozzles can accelerate the fire.

Have done a number of fitre fighting courses here in Oz in different jobs I have had.
Over the years systems have changed and this has been reflected in the training we did.

As to Grenfell, my brother in law who lives in an apartment block but not as tall said one of the problems was the pining open of fire doors to make access easier, good such as prams, walkers etc in corridors all adding to the fuel load. Gas meters outside each apartment with piping that could easily rupture during a fire.
Possible cause of the fire was not a fridge exploding, more than likely a power board overloaded that then caught fire.

Our fire brigades here have tried for years to have power boards banned as they think some 90% of house fires are started by them.

Not one in my house just blocks of six or more power points.

My time started with the E.R. fire fighting with steam smothering, then CO2, then the gas Rayon or something similar with maybe a different spelling. This was found to be poisonous to the human and think it was later taking off. Back to CO2 as far as I know, others may have more modern info. However always remember on British ships seeing an emergency CO2 on a trolley in E.R. The different compartments in E.R. were set off from a special board in a housing usually clear of the E.R. on deck. Usual drill was to shut all doors and vents into E.R. and the space cleared of personel before releasing. JWS