Tristan : READY FOR ANYTHING: NEW FIRE ENGINE FOR TRISTAN
Submitted by Tristan Times (Juanita Brock) 18.01.2004 (Article Archived on 21.03.2004)

Luckily fire on Tristan da Cunha is not a regular occurrence. And, in the past twenty-five years, there have been only three incidents where homes were burnt to the ground. Stanley Swain tells us more.

Photo (C) Tristan Times

READY FOR ANYTHING: NEW FIRE ENGINE FOR TRISTAN

By Stanley Swain (SARTMA-TdC)

Chief Fire Officer Stanley Swain stands by the new fire engine.

Luckily fire on Tristan da Cunha is not a regular occurrence.  And, in the past twenty-five years, there have been only three incidents where homes were burnt to the ground.  Up until early this year, an old fire bowser hooked up to a tractor was used to fight fires.  But the arrival of the RMS St. Helena in January 2003 brought Tristan a new fire engine paid for by the British Government.  This machine is of the long wheel-based Land Rover type, with all the necessary fire fighting attachments.

Unfortunately, the day it was off-loaded, the ship was rolling quite badly and the engine encountered some damage.  At one stage, the Island’s stevedores could not lower it down to the barge and it had to be put back into the hold.  The next attempt, however, was successful.

Safely ashore it was discovered that the machine wouldn’t start and nothing could be done about it until the RMS St. Helena departed because everyone was involved in off-loading the vessel.  Trevor Glass and his team of mechanics spent several days overhauling the engine and eventually located the problem.  The foot stands on the rear of the machine were bent, as was the bracket on one side of the small hose reel drum and the frame that carries the suction hose and ladders.  The taillight was also broken.  It didn’t take long for the Mechanical Department to carry out all the repairs and the machine was soon given a test-run.  The water pump was tested and everything worked well.

We were not to know the fire engine would be put to the test so soon, when just over two months later on the 5th of April, Ken and Judy Green and Gladys Lavarello’s houses sadly caught fire.  The Fire Engine was quickly on the scene, driven by Trevor Glass, one of the fire team.  The pump was put into operation and the constant force of the water was a great improvement on the old bowser previously used.  In just over an hour the fire was under control, halting the spread to the major part of Gladys’ house.  Unfortunately, Ken and Judy’s house was completely demolished as the fire was well underway by the time the alarm was raised.

Now we have seen the advantage of having a fire engine, even though a small one, and hope it will be brought out of the garage regularly but only for fire drills as we hope it is a very long time before we experience another fire.