Q.When is a rescue not a rescue?
A. If it could thwart Brigade plans to close or downgrade Fire Stations.
A few years ago there was a fire during the night hours at the Sir Christopher Wren’s House Hotel in Windsor. Firefighters in breathing apparatus led out several guests who were severely disorientated and distressed in the thickly smoke-logged corridors. It is unlikely that they could have made it out themselves.
Subsequently, as the Hotel Manager and local press praised the Windsor crews, a disgruntled senior Brigade Manager attempted to downplay the rescues. This was quite astonishing as, prior to the fire station closure proposal, the Brigades Media Office would have certainly indulged in such a high profile incident to maximise good PR!
In the meanwhile, thank you letters from grateful members of the public in Windsor were no longer reproduced within the regular Brigade publication, ‘Routine Orders’. This was not the case for any other station, therefore prompting a letter of concern to the Chief Fire Officer from Adam Afryie the Windsor MP.
Then on 20 June at 00-29 hours a blaze broke at a flat in St Leonards Road, Windsor. Two brothers aged 15 and 19 were rescued by Firefighters. Their mother spoke to the local press and expressed her immense gratitude that the Windsor Firefighters saved her sons. The Brigade has subsequently expressed dissatisfaction to one Watch Manager as to whether these were rescues?
On Monday 05 July there was a serious blaze in Slough and 12 people were rescued. The crews witnessed people hanging out of windows, frantically waving and shouting with smoke billowing behind them. By all accounts this was a harrowing incident which drew upon the professionalism of the crews.
The fire was reported in the Slough Midweek Observer newspaper and headlined, ‘Fire crews rescue dozen’:
‘Firefghters struggled through smoke to rescue 12 people trapped in a burning building.
Officers from Slough, Windsor and Langley were called to Oban Court in Montem Lane, Slough at around 2 am on Monday. Six firefighters with breathing equipment freed the trapped people.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.’
Following this incident one Brigade Manager sent out an email dated 09 July which was titled, ‘Rescues at Incidents’ in which he redefined the definition of a rescue! To say this has not gone down well amongst the crews from Slough, Langley and Windsor would be the understatement of the century.
If senior management truly believe that these incidents were not actual rescues they should be placed in the same situations/conditions themselves and see how long it is before they need rescuing themselves. Even with their training from when they were firefighters themselves, and their years of experience, add to the mix the dissorientation and confusion from an emegency situation and tehn top it off without the specialist equipment used by firefighters and the professionalism in doing the job they are trained for, they would most certainly struggle in these situations and appreciate the necessity of a 24/7 service not only in Windsor but nationwide. I think the crews involved in all of the incidents mentioned should be praised and feel proud of the rescues they carried out and that the rescuess would agree with me!