Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2017 | Page 46

Interview
A current engine
for four or five at a squeeze – and there
was a thin wooden cab with aluminium
framework, hardly the most protective of
shells.
There wasn’t much room in the lockers,
the engines weren’t powerful or capable of
high speed, the sirens were weak-sounding
and the blue lights dim. In fact some
engines still had hand-bells on them!
Chemical gear in the early 80s
Meanwhile, the kit for firefighters was
almost cartoon-like by today’s standards
– black tunics with plastic leggings and
rubber boots, and yellow cork helmets.
Looking back, it’s a wonder the fire
teams could do their job – but as Matt
points out, at the time that was the best
kit available.
As far as road incidents went there
wasn’t the same volume of traffic on the
Island in those days, and the incidents
they attended were usually more
straightforward.
Typically, there would be stubble fires
on farm land in summer and autumn,
and chimey fires in winter. Then there
were the beach incidents such as when
chemical spillages were washed up from
ships, and firefighting at sea, when crew
and gear would have to be lowered in by
helicopter.
All change
Matt in offshore firefighting
gear in the 80s
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Nowadays, the whole emphasis of the fire
service has changed to such an extent that
fire fighting actually accounts for less of
the workload than road traffic collisions.
With more traffic on the Island’s roads
and higher numbers of young and elderly
drivers, fire crews are kept busy using their
rescue skills and high-tech equipment to
free people at accident scenes.
Service vehicles are now almost twice
the size and boast world-class Holmatro
cutting equipment, with automatic rams
and jaws,100-tonne cutters and powerful
spreaders to open up gaps.
Meanwhile the firefighters have a kit
that includes overlapping heat and fire-
protective suits, helmets that cover most
of the face as well as head, leather boots
with fire-resistant soles, and their own
individual breathing apparatus.
Having the latest cutting equipment
means that the typical length of time
to release a casualty from a vehicle has
dropped from as much as 90 minutes to
almost half that – greatly increasing their
survival chances.
“It’s a very small island, we have an awful
lot of traffic, many more larger vehicles
and people who feel over-confident in
driving them” says Matt, “so it’s perhaps
not surprising that we have so many
incidents to deal with on the roads”.
It means that Matt and his colleagues
have had to witness some “awful scenes”
at fatal crashes over the years.
“After you have seen it a number of
times you do become slightly hardened
and in the station there is a kind of black
humour we have that helps people cope.
“That’s not to say we don’t care - in fact
there will always be incidents that really
get to you, such as if a child is involved -
but the humour is just a form of release,
because if you bottled it up it would
really affect you”.