The Suffolk Hyde Affair - Doc 105 Halesworth Fire Station Manager

SUFFOLK FIRE SERVICE
Note for Case


Date 10 February 1999

Subject Accident to Ff Farr; 3 February 1999

Officer ADO Campion (AKA The Pie Man/Pilsbury Dough Man)

Observations

Whilst in attendance at an incident at the Hippodrome Bingo Hall on 3 February 1999, I was made aware of an accidental injury to Ff Farr.

The nature of the event was that Ff Farr had been instructed to disconnect a length of Hosereel tubing from Normanshurst 01 appliance & reconnect it to Normanshurst 02. The reason for this was to ensure the utilisation of only one set of Hosereel tubing for the production of Foam.

As the Hosereel coupling was disconnected, Ff Farr received a discharge of liquid into the eyes. First aid measures were administered by Ff Pettitt, on my instructions. Following this Ff Farr stated that his eyes were stinging but that he would remain at the incident.

I instructed SubO Tiffen (Oic of the Incident) to ensure that the Accident was reported to Fire Service Control in accordance with Brigade procedures & that the required reports were completed on his return to Station.
It became obvious, upon investigating, that the Hosereel tubing was still pressurised from Firefighting operations when the coupling was separated, thus a discharge occurred.

T/LFf Hyde, who was the Driver/Pump Operator of Normanshurst 01, seemed unaware that this state of affairs (although the gauges on the Appliance should have indicated it). On questioning him regarding the remaining pressure in the Hosereel he stated that " I would have thought that someone would have released it by opening the Branch."

It appeared when the accident occurred, that a number of personnel (including the T/LFf) treated it with some amusement. This resulted in momentary bad feeling between Ff Farr & T/LFf Hyde, but this was resolved quickly by pointing out to them all that such events were dangerous & required more careful handling in the future.

A check on the status of T/LFf Hydes uniform on 4 February 1999, in company with T/ADO Saward, shows that his helmet continues to carry LFf rank markings. I marked this helmet with a small black dot on its rear skirt area.

A.D. campion ADO


This document was first observed by Firefighter Hyde on 13th April 1999. There is no independent verification to the dated attached.