Originally Posted by
dead_pan
Footage of helo firefighting effort - dropping (and often missing) with thimbles of water ................
That took me straight back to the sight of those poor crews at Chernobyl back in '86. At least it was "only" noxious fumes in the smoke this time round!
On the issue of "things going wrong" I recall a Fire Exercise at sea once. A smoke canister was put in a small workshop compartment to simulate a fire. I was the first on the scene but I was immediately dragged away by the Damage Control WO - me being an Engineer. What he wanted to see was how the aircrew handled it as the "fire" was right next to their Briefing Room where they were all sat. I'd just finished my morning Engineering Brief to the Crews so was closest the door/"fire" waiting to head off to the Flight Deck once the Brief was over.
Smoke poured out from a vent while the guys (no gals involved on that day) sorted themselves out and started rigging hoses etc, etc, etc. I stood with the DC WO idly watching the fun. I then suddenly noticed the smoke was slowly turning from white to black so I nudged the WO and pointed it out - at which point he had a bit of an "Oh, bother!" moment - next pipe "Fire, Fire, Fire - Fire in 2XYZ, Standing Sea Fire Party close up at 2WXY! This is NOT an exercise!".
Unfortunately the lad setting the smoke canister up for the WO decided to hide the canister in a small store area off the workshop to make it more difficult to find the seat of the "fire". Took a little while to put the real fire out - and I can vouch for it that cans of paint burn with black smoke!!! It made a bit of a mess in 4 adjacent compartments too. Owch!!!!
