Monday, October 23, 2006
Firefox 2.0 released day early?
It would seem that Firefox 2.0 is out, despite the much-touted release date being tomorrow - a 2.0 directory tree has appeared on their FTP server, created today:
Main FTP site (has been playing up a bit under the load)
More reliable mirror (for the time being at least)
Should both of these sites fail to work, there is an official list of mirrors at mozilla.org. There's even a British English version online, which in the past has often followed quite some time after the original release.
Main FTP site (has been playing up a bit under the load)
More reliable mirror (for the time being at least)
Should both of these sites fail to work, there is an official list of mirrors at mozilla.org. There's even a British English version online, which in the past has often followed quite some time after the original release.
Friday, October 13, 2006
Catch-up part 1: the car
I've finally found the time to write the first post detailing some of the more significant occurrences in my life whilst I was missing from here! These won't necessarily be in order, mainly due to the fact that I'm starting with my new car, which is not the first thing chronologically that I was going to cover. I have merely decided to write about the car now as I was just uploading a picture of it to my web server :)
On 5th August I went to test-drive a Clio RenaultSport 182 Trophy and ended up buying it immediately. My main reasons for this rapid purchasing decision were that firstly it does everything my previous Clio did so I didn't need to do too much pondering about the car in general - the dimensions are nearly the same externally, the back seat is identical (the Trophy is a special edition model and lacks the normal snazzy 182 rear seats in the interests of weight saving) and the boot is the same size, so I know what'll go in it. There were just three other main reasons for my rather excitable and rapid purchasing decision:
1) It goes very fast (spec says 180bhp, 0-60 in 6.9 seconds and 139mph)
2) It handles superbly and is a lot of fun to drive
3) It looks cool (at least in my opinion)
The Trophy is only available in "Capsicum Red", leading to much joking from my friends and colleagues about my car being the colour of a Fire Engine, which is unintentional I can assure you. I wasn't too fussed about the colour at all really, as long as it wasn't black like my previous car, which was like an oven when parked in sunlight and always looked disgustingly dirty regardless of the frequency with which you washed it.
Anyway enough waffle, I shall simply finish with a photo of the vehicle parked on my mate Jon's driveway, which you can click for a larger image if you feel so inclined (apologies for the quality, it was taken on a Sony Ericsson k750i).
On 5th August I went to test-drive a Clio RenaultSport 182 Trophy and ended up buying it immediately. My main reasons for this rapid purchasing decision were that firstly it does everything my previous Clio did so I didn't need to do too much pondering about the car in general - the dimensions are nearly the same externally, the back seat is identical (the Trophy is a special edition model and lacks the normal snazzy 182 rear seats in the interests of weight saving) and the boot is the same size, so I know what'll go in it. There were just three other main reasons for my rather excitable and rapid purchasing decision:
1) It goes very fast (spec says 180bhp, 0-60 in 6.9 seconds and 139mph)
2) It handles superbly and is a lot of fun to drive
3) It looks cool (at least in my opinion)
The Trophy is only available in "Capsicum Red", leading to much joking from my friends and colleagues about my car being the colour of a Fire Engine, which is unintentional I can assure you. I wasn't too fussed about the colour at all really, as long as it wasn't black like my previous car, which was like an oven when parked in sunlight and always looked disgustingly dirty regardless of the frequency with which you washed it.
Anyway enough waffle, I shall simply finish with a photo of the vehicle parked on my mate Jon's driveway, which you can click for a larger image if you feel so inclined (apologies for the quality, it was taken on a Sony Ericsson k750i).
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Sales Tactic #1 - Blatant Lies
So I get a call this morning, disturbing my 7:30am slumber, from some sales droid at "Communications Center" trying to sell me an "upgrade" to my mobile phone contract... Now "Communications Center" is the former name of the shop I bought my phone from, but it had renamed to "JAG Communications" by the time I made my purchase. The conversation goes something along these lines (somewhat abridged):
Me - "So you're actually from the company I bought my phone from? Because I don't wish to deal with another company, I'm quite happy with them..."
Salesman - "Yes, and I can offer you an upgrade today... could you tell me whether you're on a 12 or 18 month contract?"
Me - "12... but surely you should know that?"
Salesman (ignoring my question) - "...and when is your contract up for renewal?"
Me - "December I believe... but obviously you're not from the company that sold me my phone, and I'll be either contacting Vodafone or going into the shop when I need to change something on my contract thank you..."
Salesman - "Yes, I'm calling on behalf of Vodafone today..."
Me - "I thought you were calling from the Communications Center... anyway, I'm possibly going to be changing networks as my Vodafone signal has been very bad lately..."
Salesman (seriously does this guy think I was born yesterday?) - "Oh right, well I'm actually calling on behalf of the 3 network today... and I can offer you [some load of waffle about number of minutes + txts] for only £17.99 a month for the first 6 months..."
Me - "No, I'm not interested in changing onto them, a friend of mine is on 3 and he gets a very bad signal most of the time, but if he goes inside a building it tends to die altogether..."
Salesman - "Oh, what's your post code?"
(I give my Post Code)
Salesman - "That shows 99% coverage here..."
Me - "Well my friend has had a lot of trouble with them, his phone went wrong days after it was delivered and 3 claim it's 'water damage' and won't repair it, even though he hasn't got it wet."
Salesman - "Well we were actually given an award for our customer service last year by Which Mobile magazine, we have the best customer service..."
Me (turning sarcasm up to max) - "Oh I see, obviously those things were just a figment of my imagination then, that's a relief!"
Salesman - "So you'd be interested in this fantastic deal?"
Me - "No, because you're clearly just making shit up to get around the fact I won't buy from a cold-caller in the first place... Bye"
He started to mumble on about something else as I cut him off, no idea what it was. I guess some people must fall for this bullshit, but I certainly don't need it, let alone before 8am in the morning... if you have an incoming call from 029 2036 8701 or similar then it's wise to ignore it :)
Me - "So you're actually from the company I bought my phone from? Because I don't wish to deal with another company, I'm quite happy with them..."
Salesman - "Yes, and I can offer you an upgrade today... could you tell me whether you're on a 12 or 18 month contract?"
Me - "12... but surely you should know that?"
Salesman (ignoring my question) - "...and when is your contract up for renewal?"
Me - "December I believe... but obviously you're not from the company that sold me my phone, and I'll be either contacting Vodafone or going into the shop when I need to change something on my contract thank you..."
Salesman - "Yes, I'm calling on behalf of Vodafone today..."
Me - "I thought you were calling from the Communications Center... anyway, I'm possibly going to be changing networks as my Vodafone signal has been very bad lately..."
Salesman (seriously does this guy think I was born yesterday?) - "Oh right, well I'm actually calling on behalf of the 3 network today... and I can offer you [some load of waffle about number of minutes + txts] for only £17.99 a month for the first 6 months..."
Me - "No, I'm not interested in changing onto them, a friend of mine is on 3 and he gets a very bad signal most of the time, but if he goes inside a building it tends to die altogether..."
Salesman - "Oh, what's your post code?"
(I give my Post Code)
Salesman - "That shows 99% coverage here..."
Me - "Well my friend has had a lot of trouble with them, his phone went wrong days after it was delivered and 3 claim it's 'water damage' and won't repair it, even though he hasn't got it wet."
Salesman - "Well we were actually given an award for our customer service last year by Which Mobile magazine, we have the best customer service..."
Me (turning sarcasm up to max) - "Oh I see, obviously those things were just a figment of my imagination then, that's a relief!"
Salesman - "So you'd be interested in this fantastic deal?"
Me - "No, because you're clearly just making shit up to get around the fact I won't buy from a cold-caller in the first place... Bye"
He started to mumble on about something else as I cut him off, no idea what it was. I guess some people must fall for this bullshit, but I certainly don't need it, let alone before 8am in the morning... if you have an incoming call from 029 2036 8701 or similar then it's wise to ignore it :)
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Global Thermonuclear War
Introversion Software (the people behind "Darwinia" and "Uplink") have brought the idea from 1983 movie WarGames to life with their latest creation, Defcon. I got it the other day and I've only had a few quick goes at it due to being busy, but so far I can conclude three things - 1) It's difficult, 2) It's *very* addictive and 3) You should buy it.
Basically the game involves placing units (Radar, Missile Silos, Airfields and Naval Fleets) in strategic positions inside your territory and then trying to move them into advantageous places before it all kicks off :)
For a more detailed review other than me just saying "It's good", there's a reasonable one over at IGN. Oh, and PC Gamer gave it 87%...
Basically the game involves placing units (Radar, Missile Silos, Airfields and Naval Fleets) in strategic positions inside your territory and then trying to move them into advantageous places before it all kicks off :)
For a more detailed review other than me just saying "It's good", there's a reasonable one over at IGN. Oh, and PC Gamer gave it 87%...
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Busy times...
The man who vowed never to blog has been doing just that for several months, as has been noted I'm sure :)
All kinds of crazy stuff has been happening, hence my not being around... far too much to go into in one post so I'll be making a few over the next few days to elaborate on where I've been. Basically the long and short of it is that I managed to get a position as a Wholetime Firefighter in Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service, which meant I had to attend 11 weeks of basic training at the Fire Service College in Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, which finished on 22nd September.
Anyway, I said I won't waffle on about it in a single post so that's it for now, watch this space :)
All kinds of crazy stuff has been happening, hence my not being around... far too much to go into in one post so I'll be making a few over the next few days to elaborate on where I've been. Basically the long and short of it is that I managed to get a position as a Wholetime Firefighter in Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service, which meant I had to attend 11 weeks of basic training at the Fire Service College in Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, which finished on 22nd September.
Anyway, I said I won't waffle on about it in a single post so that's it for now, watch this space :)
Friday, April 14, 2006
Re-shaped Clio
A friend of a friend had a lucky escape from a very nasty accident a month or so ago. I was very interested to see the pictures he took of her car at the recovery yard, not just because I attend accidents fairly regularly with the fire service but because the car was identical to mine (a 2004 Renault Clio Extreme 3). I say was identical to mine... as the pictures show it got somewhat mangled when she left a national speed limit road and ended up rolling end-over-end into a field, landing upside down!
Prior to buying her Clio she was driving a much older car (1990 or thereabouts) and needless to say had she been in that rather than the Clio I might be telling a somewhat more sombre story. After some of the things I've seen in the fire service, and hearing stories like this, I personally plan to make the Euro NCAP Safety Rating a major factor in my decision-making whenever I buy a new car in the future and I hope a lot of other people do the same nowdays... Hopefully buyers voting with their wallets will make the few remaining manufacturers of horrendously unsafe vehicles re-think their strategy - the latest Euro NCAP results reveal that there are still new cars occasionally scoring as little as One and a Half Stars in the tests!
Prior to buying her Clio she was driving a much older car (1990 or thereabouts) and needless to say had she been in that rather than the Clio I might be telling a somewhat more sombre story. After some of the things I've seen in the fire service, and hearing stories like this, I personally plan to make the Euro NCAP Safety Rating a major factor in my decision-making whenever I buy a new car in the future and I hope a lot of other people do the same nowdays... Hopefully buyers voting with their wallets will make the few remaining manufacturers of horrendously unsafe vehicles re-think their strategy - the latest Euro NCAP results reveal that there are still new cars occasionally scoring as little as One and a Half Stars in the tests!
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Busy weekend
Yesterday we went to Cadbury World, followed by an all-you-can-eat Chinese Buffet for Hana's Uncle's 50th. Cadbury World was brilliant and I'd highly recommend going, although after eating so much chocolate I had to really force myself to eat my chinese (not like me) and I can't really face any of the big bag of chocolate I bought in the shop yet! They sell all the normal Cadbury lines, most of which are discounted, and also some big 750g bags called "Cadbury's Mis-shapes" which are basically all the chocolates that went a bit wrong but are perfectly edible, so I had to get one of those too :)
Callout wise, last night we were called to an RTA involving 2 cars reported to be on fire in Abingdon Road, Kingston Bagpuize which is on Abingdon's station ground (because they had been called to a fire elsewhere). The accident was a head-on between a Landrover Discovery and a Vauxhall Corsa (not advisable!). Miraculously, everybody walked away largely unharmed and after that was dealt with we were called for standby duties at Abingdon station to maintain cover in the town. At about 1am the crew were called to take over from one of the crews that had been fighting the large fire that Abingdon had gone to, in Shiplake near Henley-on-Thames. The fire involved a large 8-bedroom thatched cottage valued at about £5m, owned by the father of Ali Bastian from Hollyoaks. Apparently the most likely cause of the fire was a cigarette - "oops"!
The fire was very similar to one that I attended last August (BBC News link) which involved a large terrace of thatched properties. Sadly most thatch fires result in near total loss of the property; the thatched roof is of course designed to keep water out, so any fire burning internally won't be affected by water being applied to the roof. The only hope of saving part of the property is through the manual process of dragging thatch from the roof as fast as possible in order to create a fire break or, if the entire roof is already involved in fire, dragging all of it off! I wouldn't personally be caught buying a thatched property, I'd live in constant fear of it burning down...
I'd best sign off now, don't want to get a reputation as somebody who actually posts on his blog regularly after all :P
Update @ 20:15 - Have changed "Hollyoaks actress" to specifically "Ali Bastian" now the BBC have released that... I wasn't going to infringe on her privacy, as somebody with inside information, by naming her if such information wasn't already public!
Callout wise, last night we were called to an RTA involving 2 cars reported to be on fire in Abingdon Road, Kingston Bagpuize which is on Abingdon's station ground (because they had been called to a fire elsewhere). The accident was a head-on between a Landrover Discovery and a Vauxhall Corsa (not advisable!). Miraculously, everybody walked away largely unharmed and after that was dealt with we were called for standby duties at Abingdon station to maintain cover in the town. At about 1am the crew were called to take over from one of the crews that had been fighting the large fire that Abingdon had gone to, in Shiplake near Henley-on-Thames. The fire involved a large 8-bedroom thatched cottage valued at about £5m, owned by the father of Ali Bastian from Hollyoaks. Apparently the most likely cause of the fire was a cigarette - "oops"!
The fire was very similar to one that I attended last August (BBC News link) which involved a large terrace of thatched properties. Sadly most thatch fires result in near total loss of the property; the thatched roof is of course designed to keep water out, so any fire burning internally won't be affected by water being applied to the roof. The only hope of saving part of the property is through the manual process of dragging thatch from the roof as fast as possible in order to create a fire break or, if the entire roof is already involved in fire, dragging all of it off! I wouldn't personally be caught buying a thatched property, I'd live in constant fear of it burning down...
I'd best sign off now, don't want to get a reputation as somebody who actually posts on his blog regularly after all :P
Update @ 20:15 - Have changed "Hollyoaks actress" to specifically "Ali Bastian" now the BBC have released that... I wasn't going to infringe on her privacy, as somebody with inside information, by naming her if such information wasn't already public!
Friday, April 07, 2006
Turn an old Digicam into an IR Camera
Mark Hoekstra has produced a brilliant and very comprehensive tutorial on the subject of turning a conventional Digital Camera into an Infra-Red Camera.
Now we can all join the likes of Bill Oddie and/or Paris Hilton's ex boyfriend, filming animals/people in the dark with the addition of an Infra-Red Torch such as the one Mark also includes instructions on making.
I have an old digital camera very similar to the one being modified in the tutorial (Fujifilm Finepix 1400Zoom) which appears to be on its last legs (some sort of memory interface fault). Should I replace it soon, perhaps I'll take it apart and providing I can get it working sufficiently well, attempt this mod!
Now we can all join the likes of Bill Oddie and/or Paris Hilton's ex boyfriend, filming animals/people in the dark with the addition of an Infra-Red Torch such as the one Mark also includes instructions on making.
I have an old digital camera very similar to the one being modified in the tutorial (Fujifilm Finepix 1400Zoom) which appears to be on its last legs (some sort of memory interface fault). Should I replace it soon, perhaps I'll take it apart and providing I can get it working sufficiently well, attempt this mod!
Monday, April 03, 2006
Silence...
As has doubtless been noted, the man who vowed never to blog has succeeded in doing precisely that for the best part of two months :P I keep meaning to get back into it but haven't due to having too much stuff I should have written about and not liking the prospect of writing one big catch-up post.
I thought I'd start off with a brief explanation of where I've been hiding. On Monday 13th February (not long after my last post) I went away to the Fire Service College at Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire for a fortnight's Breathing Apparatus Training. After ten very long days which were very physically demanding but also very interesting and educational, I was back home having passed. In the 6 weeks since, I have yet to have the opportunity to use it on a job, although I put a set on my back twice in the last week, for an oven fire at a house in Hardwick and an electrical fire at Sainsbury's in Witney, both of which put themselves out so we were stood down before we went "under air".
Since returning from my course I've been playing catch-up in my day job and attending various incidents, as well as programming on a reasonably large PHP project for a client, all of which have been hampered by the fact I came down with a horrid chesty cough on the first day of my BA course which I am still feeling the aftermath of in the mornings, wondering when it is going to leave :P
I suppose that's enough for now, especially given the time of day =) I shall post again soon with news of various incidents I've attended and things that have annoyed me, etc. during my period of blogging silence...
I thought I'd start off with a brief explanation of where I've been hiding. On Monday 13th February (not long after my last post) I went away to the Fire Service College at Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire for a fortnight's Breathing Apparatus Training. After ten very long days which were very physically demanding but also very interesting and educational, I was back home having passed. In the 6 weeks since, I have yet to have the opportunity to use it on a job, although I put a set on my back twice in the last week, for an oven fire at a house in Hardwick and an electrical fire at Sainsbury's in Witney, both of which put themselves out so we were stood down before we went "under air".
Since returning from my course I've been playing catch-up in my day job and attending various incidents, as well as programming on a reasonably large PHP project for a client, all of which have been hampered by the fact I came down with a horrid chesty cough on the first day of my BA course which I am still feeling the aftermath of in the mornings, wondering when it is going to leave :P
I suppose that's enough for now, especially given the time of day =) I shall post again soon with news of various incidents I've attended and things that have annoyed me, etc. during my period of blogging silence...
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Recent shouts
Just a few shouts we've had since I set up the blog that I didn't post about as they weren't particularly unusual, if anyone is interested at all!
31st Jan @ ~06:20 - Car fire on Thorney Leys, Witney - "make pumps 2" to close the road as it was busy with people starting their commute at that time, I was on the 2nd crew.
5th Feb @ 00:08 - Tree fire on Witan Way, Witney, false alarm good intent, alarm was caused by some homeless people starting a small fire by the river to keep warm which was spotted and believed to be a tree on fire. I was on the crew, we left the fire as it was under control and quite sensibly sited.
5th Feb @ ~20:00 - Out of control Bonfire, in a field off Cogges Hill Road/Stanton Harcourt Road, Witney. It wasn't possible to get the fire engine to it so the crew requested the attendance of the 4x4 from Abingdon but managed to find a source of water near the fire before the 4x4 arrived so they weren't required. I didn't catch this one.
8th Feb (today) @ 08:01 - "RTA multiple vehicles persons trapped" in Witney Road, Finstock. I didn't catch this one but I gather both our crew and the crew from Charlbury who attended returned to station quite quickly, presumably no persons were found to be trapped and they simply made the vehicles safe.
Things seem to be relatively busy after quite a quiet January, but I'm off for two weeks starting this Saturday as I'm going away on a Breathing Apparatus course at Fire Service College in Gloucestershire and although it looks to be a good course, I'll probably miss loads of shouts, but never mind!
31st Jan @ ~06:20 - Car fire on Thorney Leys, Witney - "make pumps 2" to close the road as it was busy with people starting their commute at that time, I was on the 2nd crew.
5th Feb @ 00:08 - Tree fire on Witan Way, Witney, false alarm good intent, alarm was caused by some homeless people starting a small fire by the river to keep warm which was spotted and believed to be a tree on fire. I was on the crew, we left the fire as it was under control and quite sensibly sited.
5th Feb @ ~20:00 - Out of control Bonfire, in a field off Cogges Hill Road/Stanton Harcourt Road, Witney. It wasn't possible to get the fire engine to it so the crew requested the attendance of the 4x4 from Abingdon but managed to find a source of water near the fire before the 4x4 arrived so they weren't required. I didn't catch this one.
8th Feb (today) @ 08:01 - "RTA multiple vehicles persons trapped" in Witney Road, Finstock. I didn't catch this one but I gather both our crew and the crew from Charlbury who attended returned to station quite quickly, presumably no persons were found to be trapped and they simply made the vehicles safe.
Things seem to be relatively busy after quite a quiet January, but I'm off for two weeks starting this Saturday as I'm going away on a Breathing Apparatus course at Fire Service College in Gloucestershire and although it looks to be a good course, I'll probably miss loads of shouts, but never mind!
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
LEGO Technic Difference Engine
Despite being overtaken in popularity by various modern playthings such as games consoles, people are still doing new things with LEGO. Wilco gave me the URL to a very clever LEGO Technic Difference Engine earlier. For those that don't know, a Difference Engine is essentially a mechanical computer for performing some fairly complex calculations. The world's first computer, invented by Charles Babbage, was a Difference Engine.
Looking at how clever some people are with LEGO makes me wonder what great things they could achieve if they put their time into a less trivial pursuit, but each to their own =)
Looking at how clever some people are with LEGO makes me wonder what great things they could achieve if they put their time into a less trivial pursuit, but each to their own =)
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Not even the Egyptians...
It seems not even the normally welcoming Egyptians like George Galloway, so bang goes another country off the list of places we could give the muppet a one-way ticket to! Oh well, whatever happens there's always Siberia...
BBC News Article
The militant MP, who takes time off from the Commons to prat about like a moron in the "Big Brother" house with a bunch of C-list celebrities who are so low in public opinion that they got beaten by a non-celebrity, has been blowing his mouth off and generally appearing to be a total fruitcake so much that even a country with no serious involvement in the current troubles don't want to touch him with a bargepole.
I can imagine it now...
Egyptian Immigration Official: "What is the purpose of your visit, Mr. Galloway?"
Galloway: "I'm here to look smug and stir up some mischief... what do you think?"
Official: "I'm afraid we can't allow you in if that's the case..."
Galloway: "Would you like me to be the cat?..."
Update: They have now let him in, according to the BBC. Where's their sense of fun?!
BBC News Article
The militant MP, who takes time off from the Commons to prat about like a moron in the "Big Brother" house with a bunch of C-list celebrities who are so low in public opinion that they got beaten by a non-celebrity, has been blowing his mouth off and generally appearing to be a total fruitcake so much that even a country with no serious involvement in the current troubles don't want to touch him with a bargepole.
I can imagine it now...
Egyptian Immigration Official: "What is the purpose of your visit, Mr. Galloway?"
Galloway: "I'm here to look smug and stir up some mischief... what do you think?"
Official: "I'm afraid we can't allow you in if that's the case..."
Galloway: "Would you like me to be the cat?..."
Update: They have now let him in, according to the BBC. Where's their sense of fun?!
Friday, February 03, 2006
Nailguns and Chimneys
Two shouts so far today, but I haven't caught one yet myself! Just signed for my "attendance" and waited my 15 minutes in case the second fire engine was required, as per normal.
At 10:47am we were called to Witney Community Hospital (over the road from our station) after somebody came into the Minor Injuries Unit with a nail through their finger, still attached to the nailgun! We were called to remove the nailgun from the nail, so that the nail could then be dealt with. It was far too delicate for the crew to achieve this using our normal selection of tools, and although the rescue tender which carries more suitable equipment e.g. a ring cutter etc. was on its way to us from Kidlington, one of our guys is a goldsmith/jeweller so after a quick trip to his workshop to obtain a saw with the smallest blade I've ever seen, the nail had been cut and at 11:05am the rescue tender was turned back, no longer required.
At 11:30am, a mere five minutes after my backside had re-established contact my with office chair, my alerter sounded again. Five of the six crew members from the original shout were still on station, so I had no chance at all of catching this one! The call was to another chimney fire in Standlake, this time at a pub. Upon hearing "chimney well alight" on the mainscheme radio whilst signing the pay book we anticipated they might "make pumps 2" as they required us to attend also, but the crew had the situation under control and were certain it was confined to the chimney itself.
Update @ 14:00: The crew are still at the pub with the additional help of the Hydraulic Platform from Oxford, to access the top of the chimney safely!
After a fairly quiet January, February seems to be busy so far! I'm now going to stop waffling and get off to the bank before we get yet another callout and I miss the chance to go.
At 10:47am we were called to Witney Community Hospital (over the road from our station) after somebody came into the Minor Injuries Unit with a nail through their finger, still attached to the nailgun! We were called to remove the nailgun from the nail, so that the nail could then be dealt with. It was far too delicate for the crew to achieve this using our normal selection of tools, and although the rescue tender which carries more suitable equipment e.g. a ring cutter etc. was on its way to us from Kidlington, one of our guys is a goldsmith/jeweller so after a quick trip to his workshop to obtain a saw with the smallest blade I've ever seen, the nail had been cut and at 11:05am the rescue tender was turned back, no longer required.
At 11:30am, a mere five minutes after my backside had re-established contact my with office chair, my alerter sounded again. Five of the six crew members from the original shout were still on station, so I had no chance at all of catching this one! The call was to another chimney fire in Standlake, this time at a pub. Upon hearing "chimney well alight" on the mainscheme radio whilst signing the pay book we anticipated they might "make pumps 2" as they required us to attend also, but the crew had the situation under control and were certain it was confined to the chimney itself.
Update @ 14:00: The crew are still at the pub with the additional help of the Hydraulic Platform from Oxford, to access the top of the chimney safely!
After a fairly quiet January, February seems to be busy so far! I'm now going to stop waffling and get off to the bank before we get yet another callout and I miss the chance to go.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
This address looks familiar...
At ~10:20am today we were called to a chimney fire in Standlake with reports of smoke issuing from the top of the chimney despite no fire being lit. Upon studying the ticket on the printer I commented to our Station Officer that we'd had one in Standlake at 8am yesterday, before realising that it was also in the same road... and at the same house!
I wasn't present at yesterday's fire, but en-route to today's there was of course much ribbing of one member of the crew who had been, "Can't you even put out a chimney fire?" etc. Upon arrival, prime suspect was the boiler flue which was piped into an adjacent chimney, giving the appearance of smoke issuing from the chimney itself which appeared totally dormant and also clean as a whistle following the rodding it had received from yesterday's crew. We put up a 6 metre ladder and roof ladder, which we had to extend due to it being a very tall roof, and I went up and took a look down the chimney - again very clean and no sign of any fire, heat or smoke.
Outcome: False alarm, good intent - alarm caused by steam from boiler flue. The lady had paniced upon seeing the steam from the flue, having had the fire the day before, and called us out. But it's better we get the occasional call to a false alarm rather than people delaying in calling us when they have a real fire, believing they can put it out themselves and subsequently getting into difficulty! I got back to the office at about 11:40, just as everyone else was going to lunch.
I wasn't present at yesterday's fire, but en-route to today's there was of course much ribbing of one member of the crew who had been, "Can't you even put out a chimney fire?" etc. Upon arrival, prime suspect was the boiler flue which was piped into an adjacent chimney, giving the appearance of smoke issuing from the chimney itself which appeared totally dormant and also clean as a whistle following the rodding it had received from yesterday's crew. We put up a 6 metre ladder and roof ladder, which we had to extend due to it being a very tall roof, and I went up and took a look down the chimney - again very clean and no sign of any fire, heat or smoke.
Outcome: False alarm, good intent - alarm caused by steam from boiler flue. The lady had paniced upon seeing the steam from the flue, having had the fire the day before, and called us out. But it's better we get the occasional call to a false alarm rather than people delaying in calling us when they have a real fire, believing they can put it out themselves and subsequently getting into difficulty! I got back to the office at about 11:40, just as everyone else was going to lunch.
