Fire station blaze 'embarrassing'

[Hagar]

oops.........! Some of you have seen my photos of the delightful town of Arundel just a few miles from where I live. Well, the fire station burned down last night.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/6086830.stm

A fire chief has told of his embarrassment after a station without a smoke alarm went up in flames.
The building and fire engine were destroyed in the blaze at Arundel Fire Station, and more than 20 properties nearby were evacuated as a precaution. Neil Odin, southern area commander for West Sussex fire service said it showed it could happen to anyone.

"Unfortunately, we had severe damage to our fire station, which is embarrassing," he told the BBC.

He said a brand new building would need a smoke alarm.

But he added: "Automatic smoke detection wouldn't have made any difference."

[expat]

An automatic fire alarm would not have made a difference, true, however an sprinkler system would have made the world of difference  ;D

Coal to Newcastle.

Matt

[ozzy72]

Whoops

[Hagar]

The silly thing is that the fire chief is responsible for regularly inspecting all the businesses in the area for compliance with the rigid fire regulations. If they don't comply with the regulations (fire alarms, extinguishers, sprinkler systems etc.) he has the power to close them down immediately until it's corrected. Maybe he should have inspected his own premises. No wonder he's embarrassed.

[Chris_F]

Sounds familiar to me.  We have a facilities/safety department at work that's always getting on our case for safety related stuff (we're a factory operations group).  In the last two or three years we've made such huge strides in safety that there's nothing left for them to criticize so they've started making things up to cite us on.  But if you go in to any of their work shops you find blocked fire exits, blocked electrical panels, etc.  Some of these people don't view their job as essential to public safety, they view it as a means to a power trip.  If safety were truely their concern they'd have smoke alarms in that fire station.

[Saitek]

You know Doug isn't it just typical. The people who first jump at others throats for not having teh very latest in safety devices - don't even have the basics themselves. Humbug.

[justplanecrazy]

Happens more than you think over here in the states. Mostly Volunteer departments though cause theres no one around. It usaly dose a lot of damage because by the time you get to the trucks there on fire too lol. that and you should see all the crap that is stored at your local fire dept.