Fires on Board

[William Gardner]

sincear appolge to john and brian too many cans about last night

[Jim Brady]

By the way William talking of the breathing apparatus with the bellows.I remember one time this guy putting the helmet on someone started to pump and the guy wearing the helmet could'nt get it off quick enough.When he did get it off his face was covered in dust and cockies I dont know how long it was since it was last used he was nearly suffocated.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Jim, never remember any regs about not using fire extinguishers, on all PSNC ships outward bound from UK, we used to set them all off and 3/m and cadets had a day of refilling them, recording dates on the body of extinguisher and rough log; nothing worse than a dud fire extinguisher. On my 22 month trip we set them off every 3 months to refill and record them, although if I remember rightly it was only an annual requirement. Perhaps things were different then in those immediate post war years when no doubt many a life has been saved in those dark days of convoys by a fire extinguisher and perhaps lives lost because some didn't work. Perhaps the curtain incident was the mate just saying no need to waste an extinguisher on this when the sink was handy, I would probably have said the same in that circumstance, as refills were expensive, but I doubt that was the reason, because as seamen we don't take chances with fire situations Rgds

[William Gardner]

any one recall a grange boat on fire just out of b aries argentina i was not thear at the time but we used to talk about it inlamport ibealive the master was one of those that lost there lives1960 or 61 nasty fire

[robpage]

With the exception of CO2 , we carried the refill kits on board in Clan Line , and I would have thought King Line too , they were not cheap but what is a £10 refill to a £10,000,000 ship . I have been in trouble before for doing the right thing , and logging small fires . Ashore every time one was let off it was reported via the Safety committee , so people liked to cover these things up . I know the general thoughts on the safety Elf , but my thoughts have been , you are the man on the spot , you do what you need to do to reduce the risk and make the situation safe , then less people die . I do know exactly what you are saying though . We used to take extinguishers at their shelf life end for the refill and get people to let them off , you would be surprised how many people have not a clue . We liaised with Hampshire Fire & Rescue , and a training officer came from Eastleigh Headquarters and trained the office and factory staff . The film shown was footage of the Manchester Woolworth's Fire , iyt was called in by a passing Taxi driver , Woolworth's failed to make the 999 call , the story is here http://www.fireservice.co.uk/history/woolworths-fire . It was surprising how awatre the office staff became after realising girls died taking their tills upstairs to the cash office , instead of running for the door . I still say hang the expense , do what feels right at the time

[cappy]

probably the Royston grange big loss of life

[cappy]

jim don't forget ....pq 17 9 on bbc2......regards cappy

[Jim Brady]

Ivan,maybe I did'nt make myself clear as regards the letting off of a fire extinguisher.What I meant was that if an extinguisher was discharged to put out a fire it had to be logged,I suppose if say a bucket of water was thrown over the fire and extinguished it would not be reported as a fire on board.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[cappy]

just watched pq 17 made me feel I wanted to cry....for the men involved

[Ron Kendall]

Just watched the programme about the PQ17 convoy. What a dreadful waste of lives and ships in atrocious conditions. That is what happens when someone decides on what turned out to be the wrong decision. I never usually watch Jeremy Clarkson, but he wrote and produced this, and went into those waters, so I have revised my view of him, He seemed genuinely moved by all that had happened all those years ago. and then, after t5he war, did not the Russians dump Spitfires etc down old mineshafts, as they did not want the populace to know too much about other Countries helping them out?