Bembridge Lifeboat Coxswain Charles Searle was recognised for his gallantry and determination at the wreck of the brigantine John Douse on 11th November 1877. That fateful night, it was blowing a hurricane from the south with thick rain. It was reported that a vessel was ashore off Sandown. The vessel was the brigantine John Douse from Falmouth, carrying Plaster of Paris from Rouen to Cork. Bembridge’s Worcester lifeboat was taken the 6 miles overland to Sandown, pulled by 8 horses borrowed from a neighbouring farm. It arrived about midnight, before being launched at around 01:30. After having difficulty in locating the John Douse because of the intense darkness, the lifeboat succeeded in saving the master and the mate. A tremendous sea then swept the boat off before any others could be rescued. As the steer-oar touched the ground when the boat was in the hollow of the surf, Coxswain Searle deemed it inadvisable to approach the wreck again until daylight. The lifeboat remained near the vessel during the night. Coxswain Searle was washed overboard and was rescued with great difficulty due to the intense darkness and heavy seas. At dawn, the lifeboat was backed towards her. It was then discovered that a coastguard galley had by that time been launched and was rescuing the other 4 men, who had been clinging to the rigging. The events of the night of the 11th/12th November 1877 have been described as 1 of the greatest rescues in Isle of Wight history. The Western Times reported:
“Great praise is due to the coxswain and the crew of the lifeboat, as it was blowing excessively hard. The night was pitch dark, and a tremendous sea was running. The coxswain had a narrow escape, for he was washed out of a lifeboat by a heavy sea, and it was only with difficulty that he was rescued.”
One of the Islands most populated areas, and its fire service isnt 24/7, interesting.
For all the smack heads and scum fires and the like..
Sums up the Island, one of the most expensive
Council taxes in the country, yet inferior services.
Does that mean they will now attend to floods
rather than playing snooker or darts in the station.
I think I you must be delusional as all stations have not had these darts or snooker tables for over 10 years
you sure? please do better! Newport has a dart board!
And playing cards and various boardgames
They are 24/7, it is just that currently, overnight is on-call rather than at the station already. The change means they’d be on station 24/7.
Presumed Ryde (along with Newport) were already 24hour….
Quite laughable really, as all the retained wholetime haters of days gone by clamber for jobs in a leaner, more efficient & available Fire Service, the writing is on the wall, & I guess you reap what you sow to a certain degree!
As I live behind the fire station I’m concerned about the noise this will generate… when the brigade get a shout a loud hailer system goes off…I don’t fancy that at silly hours of the morning… it’s hard enough to live with in daylight hours…I know they do a fantastic job and wouldn’t be without them but I sometimes think they forget they have a residential area around them…also when they do hose training… I’ve been soaked while I’m sat in my garden…and when they set the smoke house off and had washing on the line and my windows open my house smells of smoke and my washing…. just want proper consultation on how this will pan out
The ‘hailer’ you mention is already silenced out of hours (Ryde regularly gets shouts 24 hours a day). Only difference is they’ll be on-station rather than on-call from home.
When did you buy your house? Surely you realised there was a firestation there!
more time for bare chested ostentatious calendars now then?
It seems to have been misunderstood here… but Ryde is already a 24/7 station. The cover overnight currently is provided by on-call (retained) firefighters. This change just means that there would be wholetime firefighters on-station 24/7, rather than being called out from home/work.
on paper yes, but it’s availability, or lack of, (& skills) that’s the overriding issue here
Retained availability is a big problem on the island but also the cut backs in Retained staff.
Newport alone over the years has gone from 20 Retained to 12.
It seems illogical to make ryde 24 hour when they could double up the size in newport , which is far better placed to serve the whole island, if there is a large fire in the area of newport that takes all its resources then ryde get called to a fire in the south or west of the island, it could take the best part of 30 minutes to arrive which would not benefit anyone, perhaps ryde is being made 24 hour so that the firefighters from the mainland find it easier to travel. Either way as a strategic decision it is flawed.
Don’t need new fire trucks,use the money to get fire cover at Bembridge,new appliance won’t get to destination any quicker than a 20yr one, they don’t wear out as do very little mileage, these trucks were built to do 300,/500,000 miles. As said before can have all tech and latest but not do better. Having control room on mainland already creates delay and sometimes engines being sent to wrong address as operator’s ( not their fault) don’t know the Island. Got to be better have 6 older appliances and 20 fireman than one brand new and 6 fire officer’s
Unfortunately you can’t cover an area if nobody is willing to apply for the roles. Bembridge has been empty for some time and this was only highlighted when they had the fire deaths some years back. Yet still have had nobody apply who was suitable to carry out the role as a firefighter
Bembridge is but a stones throw from Ryde, so why should money be spent there, the truth is, it would be better to sell of the plot at Bembridge and the cash made used to fund the Ryde and Newport services.
What this will do is close the fire station in Bembridge. The Ryde whole time crew could cover Bembridge quicker than if the station had a retained crew but as they can’t get anyone to apply its pointless keeping Bembridge open.
One thing that needs to be addressed is Newports lack of retained. It use to be 20 and needs to be at that level so reserve applies could be used instead or heavily relying on mainland support which is hours away.
The two night fires and the response to the house fire shows that there is a need for more appliance availability.
Another option is to work with other agency’s so Hampshire fire and rescue could fly staff over via helicopter with a reserve appliance waiting for them.
What some people are missing is the point that the on call firefighters are not being released from their employment to serve the community. Whilst Newport has always had full time, Ryde was expanded from on call to day manning. I remember being waked up by the bell going off at silly o’clock to call my Dad out. It’s called the future. The station is there to save people’s lives, not photo shoot callenders or wash cars. These people save lives. Support the changes and work with each other.
Glad to see the cutbacks in personnel and pumps years ago are paying off now, probably the same computer model predictions now as then.