nialpearce
Fire and Gas Leak at The Fountain Inn Wells 13/3/13
Photos from last nights fire in the pub (The Fountain) directly next door to my house. The chimney fire spread slightly to the roof before being put out in seconds by a fireman & a Co2 fire extinguisher aimed down the the chimney from the roof top access. However heat from the fire is thought to have damaged a joint in a gas heated hot water heater on 1st floor which is fixed to the side of the chimney brest inside the upper dining room. The area around the pub (including my self and the 75yr old lady who lives in half of the house (decided into 2 40 years ago) were asked to leave our homes immediately and we pushed back 100 meters while the police set cordons at a further 100m back to turn traffic on the busy road. A specialist was called in after 2 firefighters went back in with an extra layer of gear and O2 tanks with full face masks to take readings with a portable GCMS meter and on entering the 1st floor area were shown massively high readings of Carbon Monoxide (CO) at a seriously dangerous level. Their commander (who was set up right by us by his command truck told the 2 men to exit immediately and we then waited 2 Long cold hours for the specialist to arrive from Gloucester who went in with breathing gear and even more accurate equipment and gave the all clear for gas (as it had been shut off for 3 hours at this point with all windows and doors open to vent the building, but did also detect high levels of CO on the 1st floor but safe enough to allow people back to their homes and the fire crews back into the pub to collect their gear that they had to leave when their personal gas detector units were triggered.
A damn long night!
20 mins later the whole area was eerily deserted in a stark contrast to the 20+ firemen 5 Engines, several police cars and around 20 houses worth of people!
I spoke to the reporter from the Wells Journal/This is Somerset which was published 20mins later on their site and in today's paper. I don't like talking to the press but no one else would speak to the reporter on the other end of the Photographers phone, so I stepped up and did (with much scorn from my neighbors and Pub staff). I gave him a nice clear and accurate account of the evening but even then he cocked up some of my quotes and info! However he did spell my name right which is a first!
I have to add, the Wells Fire & Rescue service along with other engines and trucks called in from other areas were all very professional, patient, helpful and friendly. It was extreamly frustrating being thrown out your warm house into the cold but they HAVE to follow their training and H&S/Risk Assessments for things like this and use worse case scenarios (which in this case was a potential Gas Explosion) and I have personally seen the aftermath of a Kebab Shop gas explosion when a small gas leak created a gas filled shop & kitchen which exploded at 4am blowing the entire front off the building and the buildings either side and the flying debris smashed windows on the other side of a wide high street!
It was also equally frustrating for the 20+ Firemen who also had to be back behind the inner cordon (where we were) unable to do anything till the Gas safety officer arrived from Gloucester with the specialist detection equipment, which was over 2 hours from the time they requested it.
However something should of been put in place for the elderly residents who were evacuated (which is quite a few around here) as many thought it would be a short time but ended up in the cold (-2oC) for just over 3 hours with slippers and indoor clothing on and in a couple of case no coat or warm clothing. There were plenty of police and fire vehicals all left running that the older residents could of been allowed to sit in to stay warm.
Moral of the story... Dont attach gas appliances to Live Chimneys!
Apologies for bad quality photos, the Blue Lights play havoc with my cameras light meter and as the light is so varied when 6 Fire Engines/Police Cars have their Blues on its almost impossible to get a clean shot manually let alone with auto settings. The press photographer showed me his special lens filter he uses at incidents with alot of Blue Light Services vehicals that filters alot of the bright blue strobing lights into a purple tinge and allow the rest of the photo be bright and crystal clear of course his £3.5k Canon EOS 5D with £5k Papping Lens with stupidly fast shutter speeds, massive range of speed and light settings helps compared to my HTC One X camera or even my Lumix FZ45.
Fire and Gas Leak at The Fountain Inn Wells 13/3/13
Photos from last nights fire in the pub (The Fountain) directly next door to my house. The chimney fire spread slightly to the roof before being put out in seconds by a fireman & a Co2 fire extinguisher aimed down the the chimney from the roof top access. However heat from the fire is thought to have damaged a joint in a gas heated hot water heater on 1st floor which is fixed to the side of the chimney brest inside the upper dining room. The area around the pub (including my self and the 75yr old lady who lives in half of the house (decided into 2 40 years ago) were asked to leave our homes immediately and we pushed back 100 meters while the police set cordons at a further 100m back to turn traffic on the busy road. A specialist was called in after 2 firefighters went back in with an extra layer of gear and O2 tanks with full face masks to take readings with a portable GCMS meter and on entering the 1st floor area were shown massively high readings of Carbon Monoxide (CO) at a seriously dangerous level. Their commander (who was set up right by us by his command truck told the 2 men to exit immediately and we then waited 2 Long cold hours for the specialist to arrive from Gloucester who went in with breathing gear and even more accurate equipment and gave the all clear for gas (as it had been shut off for 3 hours at this point with all windows and doors open to vent the building, but did also detect high levels of CO on the 1st floor but safe enough to allow people back to their homes and the fire crews back into the pub to collect their gear that they had to leave when their personal gas detector units were triggered.
A damn long night!
20 mins later the whole area was eerily deserted in a stark contrast to the 20+ firemen 5 Engines, several police cars and around 20 houses worth of people!
I spoke to the reporter from the Wells Journal/This is Somerset which was published 20mins later on their site and in today's paper. I don't like talking to the press but no one else would speak to the reporter on the other end of the Photographers phone, so I stepped up and did (with much scorn from my neighbors and Pub staff). I gave him a nice clear and accurate account of the evening but even then he cocked up some of my quotes and info! However he did spell my name right which is a first!
I have to add, the Wells Fire & Rescue service along with other engines and trucks called in from other areas were all very professional, patient, helpful and friendly. It was extreamly frustrating being thrown out your warm house into the cold but they HAVE to follow their training and H&S/Risk Assessments for things like this and use worse case scenarios (which in this case was a potential Gas Explosion) and I have personally seen the aftermath of a Kebab Shop gas explosion when a small gas leak created a gas filled shop & kitchen which exploded at 4am blowing the entire front off the building and the buildings either side and the flying debris smashed windows on the other side of a wide high street!
It was also equally frustrating for the 20+ Firemen who also had to be back behind the inner cordon (where we were) unable to do anything till the Gas safety officer arrived from Gloucester with the specialist detection equipment, which was over 2 hours from the time they requested it.
However something should of been put in place for the elderly residents who were evacuated (which is quite a few around here) as many thought it would be a short time but ended up in the cold (-2oC) for just over 3 hours with slippers and indoor clothing on and in a couple of case no coat or warm clothing. There were plenty of police and fire vehicals all left running that the older residents could of been allowed to sit in to stay warm.
Moral of the story... Dont attach gas appliances to Live Chimneys!
Apologies for bad quality photos, the Blue Lights play havoc with my cameras light meter and as the light is so varied when 6 Fire Engines/Police Cars have their Blues on its almost impossible to get a clean shot manually let alone with auto settings. The press photographer showed me his special lens filter he uses at incidents with alot of Blue Light Services vehicals that filters alot of the bright blue strobing lights into a purple tinge and allow the rest of the photo be bright and crystal clear of course his £3.5k Canon EOS 5D with £5k Papping Lens with stupidly fast shutter speeds, massive range of speed and light settings helps compared to my HTC One X camera or even my Lumix FZ45.