Wednesday 3 March
18.22 Telephone Exchange, Marsh Street, Bristol
Crews from Temple and Bedminster were mobilised to an alarm call
at this premise and on arriving where met by the key holder who
lead them to one of the underground cable tunnels where the alarm
had actuated.
On opening the doors to the tunnel, a build up of smoke could be
seen, so the Officer in Charge notified Control to call in
back-up appliances. A pump from Speedwell and the CARP
(Combined Ariel Rescue Pump) from Patchway were called in and two
firefighters wearing breathing apparatus entered the tunnel with a
Thermal Imaging Camera to investigate. After a thorough
search however the firefighters couldn’t locate a fire.
Investigations were then started into how the smoke could of
built up in the tunnel and it transpired that leading to the tunnel
was an underground duct. Venting for this duct was located in
an external courtyard and it appears discarded cigarettes had
fallen thorough the venting and had caught debris alight.
On discovering the seat of the fire, crews needed to lift the
concrete venting blocks to get to the duct, after which they were
able to access the small smouldering fire. It was then a case
of pouring a few buckets of water on the fire to put it out.
Crews also used a positive pressure ventilation fan to disperse
smoke logging in the
tunnel.