ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Photos for General Discussion House Fire (Isle of Man)

The firemen most likely had disconnected the service main to the house.

Although I could imagine that disconnection in some housefires is not always immediaely acheivable, and the firemen have to wade in and spray water over live stuff anyway. Scary huh.

The firemen hadn't disconnected the service, as this is not done in the UK or on our island. The only way to get a service disconnected is by the PoCO.

The other reason I know they hadn't disconnected the service is the first thing the guy who was hosing the place down said to me was "You should've seen the sparks coming off that board!"

Yeah Kier,
Rob,
I've been a Fire-fighter for some years now and with sending my guys into a place, I wouldn't do it unless the place was dead.
We cut the power here at the Mains fuse or get a Faultsman (usually me ) to pull the pole fuse before entering.
Ian,
I'd like to see above the area pictured.
How bigger area did this burn?.
One thing I hate about plastic gear (as opposed to old bakelite) is the fact that you have nothing left to investigate a fire with.

Ian,
I just saw your post above mine!.
That guy deserves to do something, I haven't worked out what yet!.

I've got a photo looking from the upstairs down through a hole in the floor. I've sent it to you via e-mail - you might want to post it on the forum.

Talking with the fire investigator this afternoon, his thoughts are that it started in the void between the downstairs ceiling and the upstairs floorboards and burnt its way down.

I was thinking about going to the Fire Brigade and talking to them about their procedures for dealing with this sort of fire - I would hate to attend the next fire and find someone had got badly hurt.

Ian

Here it is Ian:



Click here for larger image

What is that plastic thing to the left in this last pic? And I also see the nose of a toy car/truck on the left..did this happen in a children's room? Frightening!!

edited for typo

[This message has been edited by mxslick (edited 03-05-2006).]

Looks like a CD rack.

That looks like the cover off of an Infra-Red Heater.
Ian,
I'd like to make something a bit clearer about de-energising a house or any other installation that may be part of a fire.
As a Faultsman and Fire Officer, the need to make the installation safe, needs to be wieghed up with the risk to people that could be still trapped within the building.
We don't needlessly cut the power to a building unless there is a real risk of electrocution of our staff (FF's).
Also, I will add, that water as it is, is slowly going "out of fashion" as far as Fire extinction is concerned.
Water causes a LOT of secondary damage not associated with the original fire and it is looked upon in this day and age as un-profressional to spray large amounts of water at smoke only.
Compressed Air Foam is the tool of the modern Fire Brigade.
Put in the right places,it gives a 600% better result than water (when backed up with a Positive Pressure Fan) and less property damage.
Fire-fighting is a lot smarter than it used to be.
The Jet nozzle is proof of that.

[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 03-06-2006).]

My understanding is that water stream from a fire truck nozzle are an interupted flow so that there is not an electrical conduction path back to the firefighter or truck. If you look at the water stream arcing off a nozzle from a fire truck you generally see the water pulsing as the flow is interupted briefly. I have no idea whether this is a feature in a hand held hose such as is dragged into a building.