"One very wet and very windy day at a large airfield in Hampshire I happened to be the Tower Controller. Inbound was a VC10 to pick up some VIPs. The wind was very gusty, across the RWY and there were lots of squally showers. Not fun. In view of this I put the Fire Section on "Local Standby", which got them in their appliances, outside the station and ready to Roll, should it be neccessary."
What the heck for? Gross over-reaction to a situation you weren't qualified to assess (how many cross wind landings have you flown in a VC10? And how many as a VIP Captain?) - and I'm not surprised the Wg Cdr queried your action. He was polite enough not to disturb your control - but it's the unqualified interpretation of Aircraft Commanders' requirements which annoys most.
And as for anyone getting Captain Flack and his gang to get into their big red thing because someone's returning with a vacuum pump failure? Oh come on - that's quite absurd. You do know what a vac pump is for, I trust?