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Quakes, shakes and cat on slates

20/12/2002

EARTHQUAKES, 11th floor rescues and a cat on a roof - it's all part of the job for modern firefighters according to Salford's Green watch team!

Salford station officer Benjamin Levy kept an exclusive diary of events for the Advertiser during a recent watch so readers can learn more about a typical day for the average firefighter:

" Saturday November 30: The end of the first of three scheduled eight-day demonstrations of industrial action ended at 9am. Somewhat symbolically the brazier outside the station was then extinguished and evidence of strike action was removed from the station. Normally appliances are available for deployment without interruption, but they have laid idle for over a week so our first task was to check every item of equipment. By 10am we were ready for action. The rest of the morning was taken up with further maintenance and testing and in the afternoon three of the crews surveyed the local area to plan the quickest and safest route to incidents. One crew visited an unusual shop located on a ship moored at Salford Quays and offered fire safety advice. Throughout the day, we responded to emergency calls from throughout Salford and Manchester. We handed over to Blue watch at 6pm.

Sunday December 1: We took over from Blue watch at 9am at the end of a busy 15 hour shift. A training session was interrupted when the crew from the Aerial Ladder Platform were called to assist the RSPCA in rescuing a cat trapped for two days on a roof. The cat jumped from the arms of the firefighter safe and sound - but those we assist do not always thank us! The training scenario involved a casualty suffering from lower body injuries trapped in an underground tunnel system simulated in our training house. As is usually the case, the training session was twice interrupted by emergency calls. One of the calls was to free a man who had been stuck in a lift between the 10th and 11th floor in a block of flats. After lunch we responded to another emergency call after a roof fire in a shop in Manchester's Arndale Centre.

Monday December 2: Spirits were raised after we learned the next planned strike was to be cancelled to allow exploratory talks with the arbitration body ACAS. After further training, it was a quiet night across the brigade with only a few small fires, car fires and alarms to deal with. But as we prepared to hand over to Red watch we got a report of a fire at a shop in Manchester. I left the station after being on duty for nearly 16 hours.

Tuesday December 3: We took over at 6pm from Red watch and carried out weekly tests on equipment. Crews were again mobilised to a variety of incidents including a small earth tremor which set off alarms across the city. There was much talk about the suspended industrial action and it is becoming clear that our firefighters are becoming very disheartened at negative national press reports displaying a lack of understanding regarding the role of the fire service. It is for this reason that visitors are always welcome to any station for advice or a chat about the current dispute. Your local fire station is your station - remember we are there for you all day, every day.

Thank you for your continuing support."