6th November 2023 – Fire and Flames – Mark Hughes assisted by Geraint Hughes
Penybont and District Local History Group Notes
6th November 2023 – Fire and Flames – Mark Hughes assisted by Geraint Hughes
Geraint reminded members that the Christmas event this year will be at the Thomas Shop on the 4th December.
Elizabeth told members that the Radnorshire Society will be holding an event at the Metropole in Llandrindod on Saturday 11th December at 8.00 p.m. when Phillip Jones will give a talk on World War 1.
Geraint then told members that Llandegley Church would be starting a revival of the Choir on the 22nd November – open to everyone.
Main Event: Fire and Flames – Mark Hughes, Watch Manager, supported by Geraint
Geraint introduced his son Mark with great joy and pride as Mark is completing 40 years as a Fireman, in the Fire and Rescue Service, on Friday of this week, and giving his time as a volunteer in the service covering Penybont.
Mark said it was a pleasure to come to talk to the members about the Fire and Rescue Service, but he was no Historian, but he did have his ‘Glamorous Assistant’. He is better with facts and figures.
The Fire and Rescue Service is made up of people who are on call, all have different jobs and are on pagers; there is an Office Worker, Health and Safety Manager; Bar Manager; self-employed Builders; and all is dependent on the goodwill of employers and families. They are currently getting about 5 calls per week and this year so far, they have had 278 calls. They cover 120 hours in the week with 18 personnel. Mark emphasised that they are always looking to increase their numbers and ‘if anyone is interested, or knows anyone who might be interested, then more details about how to proceed are on their website.
The Fire Service started in 1948 as the Brecon and Radnor Fire Service.
In 1974 this became the Powys Fire Service. The current amalgamated Fire and Rescue Service was formed in 1996.
A distinguishing feature of the Service that everyone starts at the bottom and works up from Crew to Crew Manager to Watch Manager to Station Manager. The Old Fire Station in town is beginning to look a bit sad:
whereas the New Station, which opened in 2018, has meant that the servicing of the engines can be carried out on site. The area of Command is now Dyfed, Powys and West Glamorgan with the service from Llandrindod being part of the Northern Division. Their website – https://www.mawwfire.gov.uk/eng/your-area/northern-division/ – says:
“Llandrindod Wells is a firmly placed ‘hub’ of Wales and hive of activity with a population of 9,789. Llandrindod Wells has had a new Combined Service’s Fire Station, Police Station and Magistrates Court which was completed in 2012. The Fire Station covers Llandrindod Wells town, and the surrounding communities of Disserth and Tregoed, Llanbadarn Fawr, Llangunllo, Llanyre and Crossgates. The remaining Station area is predominantly rural. The main risk for Llandrindod Wells and its surrounding communities are the A and B road networks in the area as well as the A 470 trunk road. Notable premises include a hospital, a college, a comprehensive school, and a railway line and station.”
Prior to the 19th century there was no formal Fire Service. Early fire services were run by Insurance Companies and buildings with Insurance would show a Fire Mark. This is the old Fire Mark for the Thomas Shop. If this was not displayed the Fire Service would not put a fire out! The fire mark has 3 leopards and was this derived from the Civic Arms. The Salop Fire Office ran from 1780 to 1832. The number on the Fire Mark would reveal whether the insurance was paid up to date.
The very early Fire Engines were horse drawn and Urban District Councils had Fire engines something like this:
The speed at which the Fire Fighters and their Fire Engines could get to fires was a particular hazard. A story of the period was of a Fire Fighter who arrived too late to catch the Fire Engine to Dolau, but undeterred, he caught the train and then walked to the place where the fire was still burning:- he got there before the Fire Engine. Then we also have:
Diary of Miss Eva Coates
June 8th 1926
“Fire at Tynyfelin Dolau at 8 a.m. Discovered
in a bedroom. Most of the furniture was got out.
The house completely gutted and fell in.
The fire brigade arrived on the scene at 11 o’clock
Sunday, October 7th 1928
“Disastrous fire at Builth. Some of the oldest shops
in High Street destroyed and families rendered homeless.”
It was not until 1937 that the first motorised Fire Engines began to take over from the Horse Drawn ones but this was not received enthusiastically by everyone and there was a lot of debate about their inclusion.
The types of incidents, that Fire Fighters get called to included:
Fires; Road Accidents; Flooding; Plane Crashes; Animal Rescue; Water Rescues (inflatables are a particular problem); Retrieving Bodies.
Mark then turned his attention to a ‘real’ fire, the fire at the Severn Arms which happened on 3rd April 2017.
By the time the Fire Fighters arrived, led by Mark, the blaze was well established by the time the 2 Fire Engines arrived with a tanker to tackle the fire. The fire had started in the Stable Block when the biomass boiler blew up. There were various concerns including the chip fryer and the hidden voids. Drones were used to see what was going on as they are particularly good for locating people and heat sources. They were able to save most of the hotel and pub. Mark was then responsible for the debrief and identifying what went well and what they could learn from their intervention.
Another real-life fire was the one in the Blacksmith’s Shop when Tom Price’s building went up in flames and the houses near-by, (within 200 meters), had to be evacuated (even the non-existent school was reported to have been evacuated!).
Before:
After:
The problem for Tom was his use of an Oxy-acetylene burner with a highly explosive Acetylene Cylinder capable of blowing a hole in a concrete wall with missiles flying in all directions. Very dangerous, albeit Tom would have felt he could have managed it on his own, fortunately not, and the Fire Team managed the situation very well. The Smithy did need to be rebuilt however.
Now:
Another Fire of note was reported in the History Group Notes of November 2022 when the Stables at Penybont Hall were ignited by a spark. The Fire Brigade were called, but things went a little strange when Richard started to give orders to the Fire Officers!!
Mark then gave us statistics on the work carried out by the Fire Brigade locally. Since 2008 they attended:
23 – Ordinary fires
22 – Chimney fires
42 – Road accidents
16 – Vehicle incidents
9 – Floods
4 – Animal Rescues
1 – Explosion
9 – False Alarms
1 – Missing child
This last incident involved a 6 year old who had been ‘told off’ at Crossgates School and ran off. He was found later at home!
Fire Prevention is an important facet of the work. Fires in this area can result from bailing when the grass is a bit damp. The service carries a Bail Testing device that has prevented many fires.
The Fire Engine is in fact a ‘Mobile Tool Box’ ready for any Road Traffic Collision (RTC). They carry a high pressure hose to put fires out and cutting equipment to cut through metal and into cars.
The new Electric cars are however proving to be quite a challenge for the service as they can go on fire very easily.
Many modern cars now have so many safety features and they need to be stripped back to reveal the mechanisms that can prove to be problematic to a rescue. This is a particular issue with the air bags.
A second appliance may be on-hand. It will carry a crew of 5, It is a narrower vehicle and also has 4-wheel drive.
Modern Equipment and breathing apparatus give the Fireman 30 mins breathing time. In practice a Firefighter going into a fire would be allowed 10 minutes before help would be sent in to get the Firefighter out.
A Firefighter ca be faced with temperatures up to 600 degrees and a building full of smoke. It can be very easy to get lost.
Firefighters get considerable medical training these days. The Fire engine carries Defibulator apparatus to deal with cardiac arrest.
When searching for a casualty they also have a thermal imaging device to ensure that people are not missed in the heat of the moment. The thermal imaging is also used in road traffic accidents to locate people who may have wandered off from the vicinity of the accident and may be hidden by hedges. This was particularly useful in an accident Mark attended in Crossgates.
Mark stressed that while they now have excellent facilities to get to the fire as quicky as possible it was important that people reporting a fire are as accurate as possible.
Giving the make and models of cars in accidents is also helpful as that will identify the safety features in the vehicles.
Chemicals are another hazard; it is good to know if there is asbestos, acetylene; or any of a whole library of different chemicals.
Fire reporting in South Wales all goes to Bridgend where the Fire Control Team are located. This is a very busy centre taking numerous calls but they will recognize very quickly which Team needs to be identified to tackle the Fire. Sometimes Teams from across the area are brought together to tackle big fires. These included:
The Commercial Laundry at the Metropole caused a fire in what is an old building with lots of voids so Teams came together to fight the fire:
A fire at Tranters a scrapyard in Shropshire brought teams together from across the border:
Part of the problem here was the need to use copious amounts of water. The Teams try not to put too much pressure on the local water system but in the end, if necessary we can take water from a fishpond.
A Fire at Milford Haven drew Teams from across Wales. A lightening-strike had started the fire and a vehicle had been burnt out:
A fire that started in a hotel in Aberystwyth brought Teams in from several places:
Gorse Fires are quite common and often need considerable resources to come together to tackle them:
We do not need to go outside of our community to know about flooding. Before the weir was put into the river at Penybont flooding was a very regular occurrence. The impact at the Bryn Thomas Bridge was extensive:
And
However, in recent years there has been a need to once again to tackle flooding in the heart of the village of Penybont at Ithon Terrace:
Mark commented on the Community Spirit that became evident at times of adversity. The Community also appreciated the Fire Brigade coming to suck up water but also in closing the road, often resisted by other agencies. Vehicles travelling through the flood would send waves of water into the houses. There was always a cup of tea for those who were helping despite the dreadful impact of the flooding in some of the houses.
Powys CC have invested in new flood defences so hopefully things might improve. A hole was dug 6 meters deep which now houses 2 pumps that come on automatically when flooding is imminent:
Mark was excited to tell us about a new raft that they had had delivered 3 weeks ago. It has already been in use when some elderly people got stuck in their car and were in serious danger. They used the raft, having got them out of the car, to take them to safety.
A really important part of being a Firefighter is the ongoing and regular training.
Mark would say that several people he has had to deal with after an accident on their motorbike would not be alive today if it were not for the medical training he has received. He did however say that some people were beyond help.
Animal rescue can be very tricky. On one occasion they were called to the Elan valley where a dog had gone over one of the dams. The owner went after the dog and also got stuck. They were able to rescue the owner and the dog and then get a vet to tend to the dog.
Fire Prevention is a huge part of what they do. Mark brought with him pamphlets for the members. He emphasised the importance of having smoke alarms and that they could be ordered through Mid and West Wales on a Welsh Government scheme to prevent fires.
They will go into schools as part of their education programme.
For people wanting to join the service they will have 2 weeks initial training and 2 weeks training on the breathing apparatus.
Mark remembered a house fire in Llangammerch, they were the 3rd Fire Engine and crew to arrive. The fire had taken control and with all the doors and windows secure nothing could be done to save the 6 people inside.
Road signs, electric poles and BT poles can all be used to help identify where to find where an incident has happened. They have much improved systems to find very rural farms and all of this helps to reduce the time it takes to get to a fire or incident.
There is considerable cross-border cooperation. Training is often shared and Teams are very good at working together to deal with an incident.
‘What Three Words’ is increasingly being used to find remote locations. Properties are relatively easy to find, it is the fires and incidents in the landscape, like the Radnor Forest, that can be more problematic.
Surprisingly a particular source of fires is people having a bath. There is a tendency for some people to want to create a relaxing atmosphere around their bathing experience. Part of this is the use of candles. Mark said they had had to attend a number of situations where the candles being used in this way had started a fire.
He said that it was worth getting your smoke alarm from the Fire Service as the batteries have a much longer life than the ones available in shops or on-line. He emphasised the need to also have CO detectors in the home as well.
Mark finished with some advice in dealing with a fire in the home:
- Have access to a phone upstairs
- Keep doors closed
- Use a window to get access to clean air
- Take everyone into one room
Ray gave the vote of thanks for both the excellent talk but also for the service that Mark has given to the community. He congratulated Mark on achieving 40 years’ service and, if he decided to retire wishing him well! Mark finished by saying that there was no age limit to the service!zz
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