Firemen

[eupraxia]

After the Hemel insident I am annoyed to hear people complaining that the fire service didn't do enough. This was the biggest explosion in peace time Europe of this kind and I think the fire service have done a wonderful job in putting it as quickly as they did. Considering this is the first time they have had to deal with something on this scale. What does every one else think.

Thank s for your time

[LazyGun]

Not being any sort of expert in this area at all, it seemed to me they did a pretty good job. The only thing that surprised me about the coverage was that the Fire Brigade Union were criticising Hertfordshire Fire Services for being inadequately prepared. HFS replied saying their teams were doing a magnificent job, so I have no clue what are the rights of it ;)

[gary baldy]

I cant understand why anyone would want to become a firefighter. Round here the vermin kids set fire to something then attack the fire fighters when they arrive. These people are as near to heroes that we have at the moment and they seemed to be getting it from all sides. Whatever they pay them its not enough !

[Ward-Minter]

I know nothing of fire-fighting but from what I saw they did a sterling job. In fact I will be sending Hemel Hempstead Fire Station a Christmas hamper.

[nfn]

All Fire-fighters are heros every day of the week. What other job means that each day at work could be your last! Brave men and women every last one of them!

[mushroom25]

totally agree, fire fighter = hero. but talk to them, and a lot of them are of the opinion that the Office of Deputy Prime Minister doesn't necessarily hold the same view, and while they are risking their lives, he is dismantling, sorry, modernising the service around them.

I believe the FBU's comments relate to budget initiatives and other modernising schemes that mean there is less money, and therefore opportunity, to train for big events like this.

[Englishbird]

ditto to Eddie51, No-one was critisising the fire-service i.e. the firemen. Who have all done a wonderful job and got the fire completely under control and then completely out in half the time initially expected. The Union were having a pop at the powers that be, saying that the fire fighters also had to content with equipment and water supplies that were lower than they should have been.

What I find sad, is that after something like this we are not all rejoicing in how fantastic our fire service is, the papers are already on who is going to sue who.

[ursula62]

According to our local paper, the head of the local branch of the FBU claimed that they had been inadequately trained for such an emergency - the training exercise had only simulated one tank catching fire.

I think that the papers have just run amok with this... Nobody believes the firefighters did a bad job - they worked wonders - all that was said was that they could have had better training on such an emergency.

[Grunty]

We are British, so we have a right to moan from a safe distance.

Actually the fire service did a magnificent job. As far as the equipment and training are concerned, isn't hindsight wonderful?

[dcannon]

i think they did a brilliant job, no one got hurt, the fire didnt spread and people were evacuated just in case. They had no warning of this and it was the biggest explosion we've had for a long time. Well done to them and all the other emergency services involved.

[kick3m0n]

It was the biggest incident of it's kind in peace time europe, so the firemen who worked non-stop, snatching sleep when they could, and risking their lives for days on end did an utterly fantastic job. My brother and father are firemen and my father was senior officer. He was responsible for organising training exercises which had to include airport fires, NATO oil jetty fires/attacks, boat fires and forest fires, as they were all potential threats in our area. The training exercises carried out simulated likely scenarios but did not, and could not include every possible eventuality at each of these locations. To have done so would have cost an inordinate amount of money, and huge amounts of time. In a service which is constantly being squeezed financially, and having pressure put on to provide more services (eg firemen trained as paramedics) this was not possible, and so perhaps the FBU have a point. But equally, it is not practical, regardless of finances, to train for the worst possible scenario. If the firemen had trained to deal with one tank going on fire, then the same principles would be applied to all tanks going on fire, and all the additional risks taken into account. That's what firemen are trained to do, assess and respond. They don't have to have seen 12 tanks alight to know how to approach the problem. On that scale, the major issue is getting enough firemen on scene, while still providing cover for the rest of the region. In this case, the standard brigade emergency cover plans would come into effect, regardless of the fire type.

[copippin]

The FBU rep. that I saw and heard sounding off on a television program was invited by the Fireman-in Charge of the entire operation to go to the site and see for himself how efficiently the firefighters involved were carrying out their very effective methods of dealing with such an appaling conflagration and I suspect he may well have left the area with a well deserved flea in each ear,his comments were untimely but probably politically motivated.

I agree with everyone above ,where would we be without the very brave men -and women (I think I'm right there?) who are prepared to tackle whatever is asked of them,they earn every penny they get.

[eupraxia]

It came from the firemens union. I only saw the tail end of a report so I wasn't sure who was moaning. I just thought it was bit harsh as they had done a great job.

[gedtagius]

All heroes - the bash & splash - every last one of them.

[WendyS]

I think the fire services did a splendid job in extremely difficult conditions. Having a relative who has been in the fire service all his working life I know just how many times his life has been on the line.

If anybody should be criticised , maybe it should be the indept planning authorities who allowed an industrial estate and residential houses to be located so close to such a fire hazard. (Not sure whether the depot was built first, or afterwards), but we never learn. It's like the planning authorities who continue to allow new housing to be built on known flood plains, despite the inevitable risk that sooner or later they will be flooded.