So why do the UK’s armed forces have such primitive fire fighting equipment. Surely they need just as advanced equipment as the public? Especially the RAF who would surely need equipment akin to that used in international airports. Do Army/RAF bases have such advanced equipment?
Probably.
It’s a good question. I’d like to know the answer myself. I’d imagine that RAF bases have nifty fire engines, but it’s not the RAF that’s covering for the firemen.
And I’d imagine that when the regular Army have a fire they call the fire brigade - who happen to be on strike.
And for the sake of it - I think they deserve a rise if it is true that their rises have been lower than the rate of inflation or whatever. BUT I also think it is very irresponsible and dangerous of them to strike.
The Army helicopter base, at Middle Wallop, has good firefighting equipment, the Royal Navy has plenty of people trained in the use of breathing appuratus, in fact the Royal Navy likely is perhaps best placed to replace firefighters, when you’re at sea you can’t call for help, you have to be able to deal with it yourself.
Result is that Royal Navy personnel have a lot of experience, and training, under adverse conditions such as war simulations, collisions, and helicopter crashes on deck.
Teh Green Goddesses are not the standard Armed Forces’ firefighting vehicle.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2346157.stm
"The Green Goddess was designed to roll into action in the aftermath of a nuclear attack by the Soviet Union. With urban fire brigades decimated, Green Goddesses manned by civilian volunteers from the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) would head into cities to tackle blazes and help restore vital water supplies.
The Kremlin never launched its nuclear missiles, and in 1968 the AFS was disbanded and the Green Goddess fleet was put into storage. "
Well, aircraft/rescue firefighting trucks & equipment are pretty different from regular structural firefighting equipment. They’re designed for different missions and environments.
Some good pictures of RAF crash-rescue trucks can be found here. According to the site, the RAF also has some structural fire apparatus, but it doesn’t say how much they have or where it’s stationed.
Why didn’t the Army just use the equipment (esp. modern fire engines) of the striking firefighters? I mean, all the stuff must belong to the public or city or whatever . The firefighters can’t just keep all of it while on strike, can they?
If/when the next striking period commences, the firefighters’ union has said it will not try to stop the army taking and using the conventional equipment. However, the main problem with doing that is that the soldiers are not trained to use the civilian equipment, and the training period would last several weeks. According to this report, there is also some backup equipment that could be used, and which is more up to date than the Green Goddesses. Inexplicably, though, “one fire authority has turned down the government request [to make the backup equipment available]” (from the linked article).
There has been mention of an additional problem, which is that some of the equipment is not owned by local government departments, but is leased to them from private companies. I don’t know why that is a problem, but I’m guessing that the soldiers would not be insured to use it.
According to this report:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2002531794,00.html
The Fire Service College has provided the military with 18 of the normal red fire engines for training purposes, with another 70 on standby, so the army can be trained in driving them so they can be used during the next strike.
My own feeling is that there’s as big a political obstacle to this as well as any problems associated with training. The government simply don’t want to be seen to encourage the crossing of picket lines. The left which Labour used to represent would go absolutely bananas if they saw pictures of soldiers (armed or not) being ordered to pass firefighters’ picket lines all over the 6 o’clock news.
If the engines have to be siezed, they will be seized by the police, as the civil power,and then manned by the armed services.
We don’t like to have our army in conflict with civilians if possible.