Firefighters from Shanklin, Sandown, Ryde, Ventnor and Newport have responded to reports of a fire at a residential home in Shanklin this evening (Friday).
The Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service were mobilised to Portland Lodge on Landguard Manor Road, at the junction of Green Lane, shortly before 17:00.
3 fire appliances from Shanklin, Sandown & Ventnor, an Aerial Ladder Platform from Ryde and the Incident Command Unit from Newport, are all currently in attendance.
2 firefighters wearing breathing apparatus have entered the property but there is no signs of fire.
Traffic is slow moving past the appliances, however the road remains open at present.
UPDATE @ 17:42 – It has been confirmed that the fire was out upon arrival of fire crews.
An issue in the boiler room is to blame for the alert.
Fire crews are now standing down from the incident.
Problem is with residential homes, IF the fire alarm sounds, and it is just burnt toast or some trifling matter, even though those housekeepers in charge cancel the house alarm on the fire panel and then quickly phone and tell the Fire service, they still HAVE to send out an appliance or more.
An ott rule, and costly, and whilst some would say ‘better safe than….’ I disagree, as one could then argue every home should have it’s own fire engine parked outside. Common sense and cost clearly dictate the levels of being ‘over cautious’.
Bet it would be different if individuals were footing the bill themselves. Easy to not worry when it is a shared invisible burden.
The pre determined attendance for such places is in the event of a worst case fire and is based on the amount of personnel and equipment that might be needed to tackle said fire. You will get this for most confirmed fires that’s why you have a turnout like this for such an event, if its not the case on arrival of the first crew they can scale it back if deemed appropriate. Someone sitting in the Hampshire control room cannot see the fire, just what they need to send according to the screen in front of them.
Understand that they send more to allow for a worse case scenario, BUT I am saying that in residential homes IF you try to cancel the arrival of the fire brigade when you KNOW that the alarm only sounded due to burnt toast, they STILL wont accept your word for it.
It would be like if YOU in your own home, set off the alarm by the toast burning, would YOU be happy to have the house full of fireman IF YOU had to pay, despite you telling them ‘what’ the reason the alarm sounded for?
Frank, as bored as you are and have an opinion about most posts on here since the supposed lock down began, YOU DO ALREADY PAY FOR IT, It’s part of the COUNCIL TAX that we pay. Some homes are linked to a monitoring service and they automatically call the fire service on your behalf. IF you are quick enough you MIGHT be lucky and the pumps could be stood down, and/or the closest one carries on to investigate to make sure. Using your example of burnt toast, because, as we know, burnt toast can be anything from a bit of singed smoke to burning bread in the toaster, in most homes toasters are situated on a worktop under a cupboard. Now, even burning bread can produce quite a large flame, said flame COULD reach the cupboard and ignite the cupboard or some contents through the smallest of gaps, this could be missed by an occupant in a smokey environment, and, result in a delay in the fire service arriving if a further ‘just burnt toast’ call was made. I would rather have the appropriate resources en route than nothing at all. Sorry if this is a bit long winded but some need a longer explanation to understand these things, and, like you i’m bored to tears as well. Have a good evening.
Many premesis including factories hotels, care homes, historic buildings etc are inspected and a pre determined attendance (PDA) put in place, this is based on potential risk to life and property, the PDA states the number of pumps and special appliances needed as a first attendance, many of these buildings have automatic fire alarms (AFA) installed, these will send an alert to the fire brigade control room. If a “fire” is detected the alarm goes of at the property while sending the alert message to the control room, the control room staff then mobilse all appliances to the PDA. Sometimes all appliances will be returned to station because there is an alarm fault or the key holder is aware of a false trigger. Otherwise when the first appliance arrives the officer in charge will access the situation and investigate, from there he will either stop all other appliances on route or carry out further assesment, start evacuation, firefighting or any other appropriate actions needed, as other resources arrive they are deployed as required. Always remember the primary job for firefighters is to save life, firefighting is a secondary role. A fire in a care home could mean a full evacuation takes place, needing far more firefighters assisting residents out of the building than initially firefighting. The PDA system has been around a long time, it works and saves lives. If it was one of your parents potentially trapped in a care home or your son or daughter working there would you rather have a full attendance or a single pump initially.
Not objecting to the number of appliances on the scene. I am saying that IF I realise that the fire alarm was false and I try to cancel anyone arriving I can’t if it goes through the fire panel service.
Seems wasteful, but understand that they on being overly cautious as all of us are paying so, no one seems to worry about the cost to risk, albeit it low risk outcome.
As an ex Full time Firefighter ( mainland Brigade) who has attended many calls to care home alarms I must admit I feel the PDA on the Island appears OTT, but there is only one Full time Station and one Daylight Manning Station on the Island , retained cover can be very “Hit and Miss” at certain times of day so overkill is the best solution , thats the cost of living on an Island .
What a bunch of idiots you are!!
The reason for this momentus comment and any greater knowledge on Franks question is o mighty keyboard worrior??
I personally would say safe not sorry….. Residents are people and deserve to be safe guarded especially at this very uncertain time…