Relief from above

[joseph connor]

Mentioned in the news again today , that horrific tower block fire , i was watching and saying out loud treat it like a forrest fire , surely if they had dumped tons of water on top the last four or five floors , and the people in them just maybe , could have been saved , it just seemed so logical to me !!!.

[Doc Vernon]

Not sure Joseph but possibly it was already too late and the Flames had taken hold so fast! ????
But your Logic is good ! I am sure if that were possible thye would have dome it!
Also how long would it have taken to get Choppers or whatever there??
Poor People!

[j.sabourn]

Joe fire can be uncontrollable. A good example of this was the Piper Alpha platform fire. The biggest fire engine in the world was on site during the total time of the burning. The whole of the North Sea was available for water, and it took days to extinguish. I am or sure when the fuel source was isolated, no doubt it would have been more controllable if shut down earlier. Fire unless you have experienced the might and force of such the layman,doesn't perceive the problems. Fire fighters and man power as is usual the answer, sprinklers would have been laughable in fighting such. Firemen the same as police and hospital workers I hold in great esteem. A forest or bush fire take away the trees and bush and you dont have, as is nothing to burn. Water only is supposed to shut down the oxygen source which fire must have. Foam and other chemicals do this more effectively in a lot of cases. That's why in galleys on ships the extinguishers were such, also where there are electrical appliances you don't want to be splashing water around. JWS.

[Keith at Tregenna]

In all reality they could not even get the ladders / platforms required in time.

K.

[Doc Vernon]

I was once in the Fire Dept in Durban and although never had the misfortune to attend such a Blaze (God Forbid) I did attend many House Fires and can tell you that time is of the essence!
Many homes we lost due to getting to the Fire fast,as said Fires are fast and furious and can be a real Horror@

[j.sabourn]

Have witnessed and been in contact with other fires, one on the Clyde where the wharehouse on the quay was ablaze at 2200 hours at night. We turned the ship around by letting the after ropes go and put the bow on the quay. The 4 fire monitors From the foremast gantry the pumps were driven by 2 of the 4 main engines. We demolished the ware house such was the force of the monitors, when the fire service arrived there was only burning embers on the quay and no ware house. JWS

[happy daze john in oz]

Joe, there is logic in your thinking but at tiems of emergency some times logic does not work.
We have some horrific bush fires here in Oz, fires that may burn for days before they can be controlled.
Even with water dropped from a special fire fighting helicopter it is still a big task.

[Ivan Cloherty]

All the planes and copters used for fire fighting are of scoop replenishment design and require large bodies of open water to reload, rivers are not suitable as the planes require a long straight run in, so even if you had a river in close proximity they could not be used. I feel sure that fire chiefs would have thought of all the alternatives (if any) available to them. Police copters are not suitable, perhaps the military copters (if any) may have been suitable, but according to reports they had thought of using large military copters but considered the down draught may have caused the flames to spread horizontally and affect other buildings in the proximity, thus aggravating the situation. Parking and collapsible bollards that didn't work are said to have delayed the fire services reaching the site

[robpage]

i n my opinion sprinklers would have worked , but they are expensive

[j.sabourn]

I don't know too much about sprinkler systems Rob but if you are taking your info. From reports about the North Sea fire, where parts of the actual sea top was ablaze, would have done nil for that part of the blaze, I gave up counting the explosions both sub sea and on the platform so imagine all the pipe work for a sprinkler system would of had a very short life. It s very well for all the theorists to come up with answers one reason why I never read seeing and being involved was bad enough. Was that bad that one sub Sea explosion actually lifted the ship and out of the water I t was that one that bent the crankcase. Later I asked myself why I took certain actions and I can only say it was by not thinking and going for objects floating as sub conscienably knew there would be no gas there and ship would stay stable. It was fire of all fires but the continuous explosions causing further spread was just as bad. Sprinklers would be fine in compartments but where whole bulkheads were being blown away and opening to the air I wouldn't have put too much faith in sprinklers whatever the egg heads might say. Cheers JWS..