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Wildfire Season


Becile

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?? Its all beginning to make the Western half of LFB look a little bare at the moment, dead as a doornail in the East by comparison.

Meanwhile.... Epsom in Surrey looks a little like a summer afternoon in Da Bronx in the 70's.

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Busy here in "The Valleys" too, various makeups over the weekend and today.  Here's a few from various sources. Looking forward to getting back into work in the city so I can knock this retained lark off for a few days! 

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The Buck's fire in Marlow is now a 20pf with Bucks, Berks, Oxfordshire & LFB attending... seems like we are getting it down here now.

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I wonder if Marlow have managed to get a crew together as they are often off the run and unable to crew ?

Media are saying 10 Acres

Marlow.jpeg

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Yes Steve, Epsom got a bit “moody” having just got back from it, 4 linked industrial units, lisps, loads of stuff inside and constantly changing wind direction, oh and a small matter of 20 dialysis patients in the unit next door, some requiring moving but in the middle of their treatment, smoke percolating through the building.

Epsom Fire

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And now the Malvern hills are going. One 40+ years service bloke has been predicting they’d go up every summer since he first went in ‘76. Sods law it happens a week after his retirement

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Greater Manchester is surreal. A mate text me today to see a Humberside pump attending a fire in Greater Manchester. We are stripped and using pumps from over 10 other brigades, and we aren't a small brigade. ☹️

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Not getting into the politics of things but we are seeing the use of more mutual aid because of the reduction in resources locally or just because of the size and manpower required on the moors?

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They've done it.... through gritted teeth they've had to admit they need the big kid's from Down South in. Two LFB Pumps going North today with another six tomorrow apparently. A request has just gone out.... It'll all be over by Thursday.

"Bloody Lononders with their fancy ways...." ?

No one likes us, we don't care. ?

(Joking by the way... not about the deployment but the rest of it).

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Got a message on the teleprinter this morning, asking for volunteers to go to Manchester either today until Thursday / Friday or Wednesday til Sunday, on mutual aid.

It's a bit of a drive from North Kensington.

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In all seriousness, lets hope we can bring some much needed relief for the Guys and Girls up there. Not that we don't have our own problems... 1001 calls yesterday for LFB, double the average daily call rate. 8 make ups (1 x 10pf, 3 x 6pf and one of the 4pf's was a grass fire). We also sent a number of Pumps into Surrey for two make ups and into Bucks for their 20p grass fire.

We are on over 300 calls already today including a 6pf involving the external balconies of a new build block of flats. Plenty of grass and garden shed/fence fires.

This is beginning to go countrywide. I think we are on the cusp of seeing something unprecedented in the UK Fire Service unseen since 1976. What a way to end it all for me.

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To our northern monkeys friends.

How long do you reckon this will go on for? A few (including me) on my watch want to come and help out on mutual aid. Any ideas on a timescale?

I fancy one last swans song, "up north".

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2 hours ago, Matt said:

Do you not fancy a trip north Steve, one to go out with :D

No thank you... I'm seeing quite enough activity in building fires to make for a very action packed end of days for me. I'll stay here in my City where my experience will be of better use.

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I'm back on duty today and been backed up with 2 Cheshire Pumps who cannot believe the amount of normal calls we are getting They have had house fires and all kinds of jobs, from one to another. Luckily I have escaped the moors today but have looked after 30 sq miles with over 250,000 population. Its great :)

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Are they looking for retired personnel? I am happy to go and make the tea, or wash their beaters down - as long as I am not too near that nasty smokey stuff!?

I am interested in the comparison to 1976. I just missed that summer, but I am aware that the LFB were despatching vans, TLs and even lone officers in cars with a beater to grass fires in 1976 as they had run out of appliances.

The summer was the hottest for 350 years!! There was water rationing, standpipe in the streets. Natural deaths were up 20% , a reservoir in Cumbria was 90% dry and there were 16 x consecutive days at Heathrow at above 30C (I can confirm that!!). The Govt pretty much declared a state of emergency and appointed a Drought Minister - as he sat at his desk, the clouds opened and the drought ended!

So despite the huge amount of difficult jobs right now, I think the comparison with 76 is a bit premature. But after saying that - as far as I know, the LFB didn't send appliances to Manchester in 1976. I doubt that has happened since the blitz, so it does feel like a 'crisis' does it? I wonder why that is?

Is the the cuts and lack of resources? My old Division (area) in LFB had 9 stations and 18 pumps in 1976. Now there's 6 stations and 11 pumps. This is repeated across London, with perhaps greater cuts elsewhere in the UK.

What do you think?

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3 hours ago, Messyshaw said:

Are they looking for retired personnel? I am happy to go and make the tea, or wash their beaters down - as long as I am not too near that nasty smokey stuff!?

I am interested in the comparison to 1976. I just missed that summer, but I am aware that the LFB were despatching vans, TLs and even lone officers in cars with a beater to grass fires in 1976 as they had run out of appliances.

The summer was the hottest for 350 years!! There was water rationing, standpipe in the streets. Natural deaths were up 20% , a reservoir in Cumbria was 90% dry and there were 16 x consecutive days at Heathrow at above 30C (I can confirm that!!). The Govt pretty much declared a state of emergency and appointed a Drought Minister - as he sat at his desk, the clouds opened and the drought ended!

So despite the huge amount of difficult jobs right now, I think the comparison with 76 is a bit premature. But after saying that - as far as I know, the LFB didn't send appliances to Manchester in 1976. I doubt that has happened since the blitz, so it does feel like a 'crisis' does it? I wonder why that is?

Is the the cuts and lack of resources? My old Division (area) in LFB had 9 stations and 18 pumps in 1976. Now there's 6 stations and 11 pumps. This is repeated across London, with perhaps greater cuts elsewhere in the UK.

What do you think?

As a bit of a weather watcher, there is no compassions ot 1976 yet on the weather forums... that's just the media doing their thing. Although it is being compared to 1995 and I think this also reminds me of 1995 in terms of LFB activity. (I only remember 1976 as a kid). That said, the UK Fire Service is much leaner than it was in 1995 and we (LFB) are sending machines, in numbers OTB much more. I recall a few Foray's over into Essex for their larger jobs but we didnt have the numbers like were going out of London to the West yesterday.

Howeve, rthis spell of weather still as at least a week to 10 days to run (maybe longer) so its all to play for.... unlike England, who I cant bear to wathc fo rthe last half of extra time. ?

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47 minutes ago, Steve said:

Howeve, rthis spell of weather still as at least a week to 10 days to run (maybe longer) so its all to play for.... unlike England, who I cant bear to wathc fo rthe last half of extra time

Hope you treat yourself to a new keyboard when you retire. ;)

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