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The Work of the Men and Women at Billesley Fire Station
The West Midlands Fire Service. Well, we all know who thay are. They are the familiar and reassuring sight on our streets every day, they are always there when we need them, I'm sure we all admire and respect them, and most of us are probably fascinated by the fact that the work they do could involve any kind of incident from the relatively minor to a major national disaster. The West Midlands Fire Service covers a very large area with a huge population. Check out their official web site at http://www.wmfs.net and you'll see what we mean, but what's it like actually manning one of the typical WM Fire Stations and what do their day to day activities involve? We have been very fortunate in having one of the Watch Commanders at Billesley Fire Station, which covers amongst other areas Kings Heath, to write us a piece about Billesley Fire Station and the type of things they do. We certainly found it very informative and it made us think, not just about the high profile work that we are all aware of, but of the things like basic fire safety, and the all important aspect of education and preventing incidents in the community. We would like to think that we could develop this article over time with more contributions from Alan and his colleagues, but as you will appreciate they are very busy and this is something done in Alans own time. Keep checking regularly though as we will try to use this page to publicize events / messages etc and give a further insight into the work and the people involved. Anyway I hope you find this as interesting as we did. If you have any questions or feedback please e-mail either Birmingham101 or why not e-mail Alan Tranter himself. He's a very busy man but I'm sure he'd love to hear from you. For several years the West Midlands Fire Service has been recognised at National level to be the forerunners in Community Fire Safety. There were many reasons why we had to make this bold step away from reactive fire fighting towards a proactive involvement with the community. One of the main reasons for change was the unacceptable level of preventable fire deaths. Enough of the larger picture, I can tell you more about that in other issues if you wish. Billesley Fire Station was built in the 60’s and if you look at it you can see the inherent building style of that period. It was originally home to two appliances (i.e. multipump) but now houses just the one. It is however one of the best and latest pump rescue ladders a Dennis Sabre XL. The Station is open 24/7, 365 days of the year. Staffed by 4 colour Watches Red, White, Blue and Green. Terminology is a throw back to old navel days when ex sailors were recruited to the Service as they were deemed suitable to harsh discipline, could endure long periods of duty and had acquired the skills, such as knot tying, relevant to what was then known as a Fireman. Very different to today’s modern Fire fighter. Each Watch has 7 members led by a Watch Commander and a Deputy. Usually only 5/6 crew rides an appliance and this allows for leave and external training courses. We are very active in our Community. Each Watch looks after 4 nominated schools as part of the educational Key Stage 2 Learn Not To Burn Programme. We attend numerous activities, contribute articles to all of the Parish Magazines, and speak with people who have had an incident and with their permission use it to carry out ‘Quick Strikes’ into the local/immediate area. All this and more, not bad when you realise we also have to keep up a daily training schedule and attend nearly 2k incidents each year, making us one of the busiest single pump Stations in the Brigade! We are committed through our Brigade Best Value/ Business Plans to reduce false alarm calls and to increase smoke detector ownership. Something like £400 of taxpayer money is wasted for each appliance mobilised to a false alarm call. And it is well documented that a £5 battery operated smoke detector will give you enough time to vacate a property if it should catch fire BUT only if you maintain it by regularly testing it each month and change the battery annually. Go on give your detector a birthday! To define success is very difficult in fire service terms. Are we successful if we do not go out to an incident because the locals have taken heed of our advice? Or are we then not offering value for money? Overall we are driving the statistics in the right direction. Every time I lead a firefighting operation and we successfully stop it in its tracks then I know I have been successful. Using my skills and training to put into effect the tactics necessary to bring a conclusion to the event. What the Community now takes generally for granted would be very different if our services were not available on demand. A typical day is never typical. However we do have laid down a series of Standing Orders that detail what should happen. A day shift begins at 0900hrs with roll call and the detailing of that day’s duty. This is followed by a complete inventory check of each and every piece of equipment on the appliance. There is then two hours practical and one hour technical training. All operational equipment has to be tested on a rotational basis and the results recorded in accordance with health and safety requirements. We have nearly 3000 hydrants at Billesley, the most of any of the 41 Stations in the West Midlands and these have to be inspected and tested at least once every financial year. This is without our Fire Safety work, planning, management meetings, staff appraisals, etc. etc. etc. Oh and not to forget the fire calls themselves! A Day Duty lasts 9hours, a Night Duty is 15hours, and we work 2 days and 2 nights a total of 48 hours each week that over a period of 16 weeks is amortised down to 42 hours per week. I will try and update you regularly on important issues , and please e-mail me if you have any feedback or questions. Family Open Day Saturday 5th August 2000 Click on the images below if you want to see the full size version
Family open day with lots to see
One of the popular displays, sitting in a fire engine and setting off the sirens
Fire engine alongside the paramedic ambulance based at Billesley Fire Station
Room fire demonstration before being tackled
Speedily brought under control
The right way to deal with a chip pan fire
Quickly and safely put out
The wrong way!! What happens when you try to put a chip pan fire out with even only a small amount of water If you wish to contact us either : PHONE 0121 444
4723
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