High-pressure heroes (From Cotswold Journal)

High-pressure heroes

FIREFIGHTERS from the Fire Service College at Moreton have been praised for the vital part they played in tackling Europe's biggest peacetime fire.

The college agreed to let three of its leading experts in the use of high-volume pumps go to Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire after explosions ripped through the Buncefield Oil Depot in December.

For college instructors Ian Lambkin, Derek Sim and Jason Lawley - who all volunteered for duty as soon as news of the disaster came through on Sunday, December 11, it was literally all hands to the pumps as they fought for four days to help bring the inferno under control.

In addition, eight men from the New Dimension programme, which was set up by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in the wake of the September 11 terrorist atrocities to tackle major disasters, also went from Moreton to tackle the blaze.

And last week, Gordon McMillan, New Dimension training and procedures manager, said the college played an invaluable part in bringing the fire under control.

"Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service and the New Dimension team are extremely grateful that the Fire Service College agreed to release staff to fight this devastating fire.

"Without doubt the experts provided by the Fire

Service College assisted in an early extinc-tion of the fire," said Mr McMillan.

A total of 14 High-volume Pumps (HVPs) - eight from Moreton - were deployed at the inferno site.

The pumps can move 7,000 litres of water a minute compared with a standard pump, which pumps 2,000 to 2,500 litres a minute.

Mr McMillan said: "It is estimated that 70 standard fire appliances would have been required had the high-volume pumps not been available, simply for moving water."

The Fire Service College instructors - all experienced firefighters - went to Buncefield in an advisory capacity but last week they told the Journal how they were soon in the thick of the action, surrounded by temperatures in excess of 2,000C with the constant threat of oil tanks exploding at any moment.

"On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we were right in the thick of it, working regulated shifts" said Mr Lawley.

"Getting some sleep was very hard. We'd never seen anything on that scale before."

The instructors said the type and scale of the fire would prove invaluable in future training. "It's not just about high-volume pumping but also management of an incident, strategy at an incident and just handling large incidents," said Mr Lawley.

"We'll be able to introduce those lessons into training here," added Mr Lambkin.

The Health and Safety Executive announced last week that it was launching an investigation into the cause of the blaze and expected to produce a report "within weeks".

Forty-three people were injured, two seriously, as a result of the explosions. Two thousand people living nearby had to be evacuated from their homes.