Not forgetting the Pigs
Monday October 11th 1976
Time 1726

This was a distressing incident; to me it always was when animals were involved. It was a major fire and a rescue job combined with the risk of agro chemicals. And for a time a water shortage hampered our efforts. The call was to “West End Farm Haynes, Farm Buildings on Fire.” The call was timed at 1727, we were called at 1728 from home by our radios and we were mobile at 1730, Sub Officer Simpson was the Officer in charge, we were manning the water tender ladder with a crew of six. As we left the fire station and turned onto the trunk road (A 6) we required no directions, we could see the fire with a great plume of smoke on the hill some six miles away. We could hear on our Radio other appliances being mobilized from Ampthill. Our arrival time was booked at 1739, Station Officer Jones of Ampthill arrived at the same time, and Leading Fireman Fox booked in just ahead of us at 1737.

I was ordered to help with the evacuation of pigs from a large building on fire whilst others were employed with getting water jets to work on the on the burning area. Assistance messages were sent immediately, first, “water carrier required,” followed “make pumps four,” and at 1744 “make pumps six.” At 1752 a further assistance message was sent by A.D.O Hall “make L4P’s two.”

As I entered this burning building filled with smoke and fire, I knew this was going to be a traumatic and a protracted incident. There was noise, mixed smells of burning timber, straw, hay, and pigs squealing. Some pigs were being burnt alive and the smell of chemicals was present. The farmer quickly explained to me how best to move the pigs to safety. He gave me a small wooden door, “move them out slowly, but keep this door between yourself and the pigs, this will protect you.” Three other firemen were with me.

We carried his instructions out exactly and we were moving about six pigs out of the pens at a time, unfortunately some ran back into the fire. I guess they were distressed and confused. Whilst all this was happening some of the pigs that were badly burnt and suffering were shot by the farmer to put them out of their misery and pain. The noise of the pigs was everywhere, some were fighting; pigs are territorial and they were protecting their area. Two drowned in a slurry pond next to the building. And at this time the fire was moving in our direction. We kept at it and continued with our task and managed to move a considerable number of pigs. Eventually we were ordered to leave the building as it was in danger of collapse and the concern of farm chemicals and fumes were present.

My next task was to help with fire fighting operations manning hose and branches; our big problem was water supplies. A request had been made at 1759 to the water authority to increase water pressure in the area. At 1815 an informative message was sent to control from A.D.O. Hall. “A range of farm buildings approximately 70 square meters containing a large number of pigs, a quantity of farm machinery, hay and straw, three quarters well alight, six jets in use.”

At 1823 suddenly the water pressure increased and immediately Fm. Les Goddard was thrown by the pressure of the water onto his back and injured, an ambulance was requested to attend the fire ground. At the same time a message was sent, “Fire surrounded.” This was an important message, and now we were beating the fire.

The last important message was sent at 1843, this was the stop message. Although many further informative messages and requests would be sent the stop message, meant that we could deal with the fire with the number of personal and appliances we had at the scene.

Amongst the many messages sent was a request for propane lighting, relief crews were ordered, the electricity board were requested to attend.

I spent the rest of the evening fire fighting and eventually apart from smoldering and the occasional burst of flame the fire had died down, however other relief crews would have to spend the entire night and part of the next day in attendance damping down. The good news was that refreshments had been ordered for 50 fire-fighters and our crew were soon served, we were most grateful.

As I was initially near what were thought to be toxic fumes in the early stages of the fire I would be required to attend hospital for a check up although I felt fine. At 2150 I was taken to hospital to be examined by the medics, pleased to say I was declared fit. A total of 13 fireman attended South Wing Hospital, Fm. Les Goddard was detained as was Fm. Paul Barnes.

Approximately six hundred pigs perished in the fire, between twenty and thirty had to be shot by the farmer due to their burns, two drowned about one thousand five hundred were saved. It is believed that rats were responsible for the outbreak of the fire by gnawing through the electricity cables trying to get to a water gully nearby. Baled straw was above the pigs thus the fire spread very quickly. A tank containing diesel fuel got so hot at one time it was boiling. The farm belonged to the Davies brothers and is still owned by the same family today.

Thirty plus years on I paid a visit to the farm, it was pleasing to be able to meet up with Mr. Randolph Davies the farmer and Mr. Andy Kirchen the pig man, and they were both at the farm on that tragic night. Mr. Davies kindly thanked me for the efforts and work we had put in that night.

And Chickens.
Wednesday 29th October 1975
Town Farm Oakley

A large farm fire in the village of Oakley, in the sticks as some would say, it’s a nice village and a pretty part of rural Bedfordshire. I have no details of the exact timing of the call, it was in the evening and we were at home when the call came in, we were summoned to the station via our personal alerter.

When we arrived on station at Kempston, Barkers Lane fire station were booking mobile with Sub Officer Jim Tobin in charge, our water tender ladder was soon mobile. I drove the Water Carrier a large Guy Indian. It had been converted for use by the fire service from its former use as a petrol tanker. It was a difficult machine to drive with a crash gearbox, a rather slow vehicle and not really suitable for country lanes. I decided to take a cross country route via Bromham thus avoiding the town centre of Bedford. I knew the small Oakley River bridges may be a problem but we took a chance and crossed them, it was tight and we were well over the weight restriction. I am sure we saved a good few minutes by this decision.

We carried a large inflatable, on arrival emptied the contents of water straight in. Then found a local hydrant refilled and returned to the foreground thus keeping up a shuttle water service to keep the working pumps supplied. It was a long night; from time to time we took turns at the sharp end thus giving those engaged in manning the branches some relief.

The wind was a problem and initially caused a large amount of fire spread, 8000 bales of hay and straw were destroyed and 39 chickens perished, just one survived. Sub. Officer Jim Tobin was injured and taken to hospital when a falling roof tile hit him. Michael Davison a partner of Davison and company stated it was impossible at this time to put a cost on the damage the hay represented the winter feed. Divisional Officer Brian Hull was the Officer in charge of the incident a Mr. Ben Brown raised the alarm. Pumps from Bedford Harold and Kempston attended the fire.

And Now the Cows 

A summer morning, clear and cool with a few clouds. We were at home at the time and we were called in by our radio alerter’s at about 0830. All the professional firemen at Kempston lived in houses provided by the fire service just across the road from the fire station. It was a twenty second run to the station or two minutes if we were in bed.

On this occasion I was up and dressed. The shout was to cows in a Slurry Lagoon Beancroft Farm, Beancroft Road, Marston Moretaine. The attendance was the water tender ladder, a rescue unit, and L4P* from Kempston. Station Officer Mike Hall was also sent on the call. We were soon on the scene, there were five cows in this slurry lagoon, and it was in fact a polite name for an animal cesspit. Someone had left a farm gate open and the cows had wandered into this pit, first one cow then four others followed.

This pit had a sort of crust on top and on entering the area, the cows soon sunk into the mire. Also all five cows were in calf at the time. The farmer Mr. Tony Owen had laid corrugated sheets of metal from roofing across the crust. This time it was my turn to go in with the hose and my buddy was Leading Fireman Tim Smith. We carefully ventured out across the metal and into the cold murky pit. Mr. Owen used halters and ropes to secure the cows heads so they were just above the crust. This was going to be a protracted job and we had to take care as obviously stale animal waste is not a healthy environment to be in! It was part brown liquid and part sludge; the smell was the worse I have experienced either before or since.

Soon after we entered the pit, a man arrived on the scene with a digger, by coincidence his name was Mr. Michael Hall the same name as our Officer in Charge. He did a good job by digging into the side of the lagoon thus releasing most of the liquid which helped us in our task. The level of the lagoon had dropped to waste level. We used our hose which we passed under the belly of the nearest cow then attached the doubled hose to the farmers digger at the side of the pit. The cows looked at us with a big staring gaze and they gave the occasional “moo”. As I bent down to pass the hose under the first cow I noticed the liquid was very cold, I think cow waste must have a degree of ammonia.

We had taken our fire tunics helmets and shirts off and left our boots trousers and leggings on. Once everything was secure the man working the machine slowly and carefully lifted the arm of the digger. The cow moved and with some care our actions were working slowly. The first cow was brought to firm ground, was led to safety
and was gently hosed down with the assistance of firemen and farm workers. The second, third, and fourth cow came out the same way; we were doing well, just the last cow to deal with. With my head and shoulder against the side of the cow I carefully reached down with the hose and passed it under to Tim on the other side, my head was turned sideways and my left ear was just into the pit. Suddenly and without warning the cow moved sideways,

I lost my balance and took an unexpected dip in the s***. The cold and the shock hit me but I managed to get to my feet, thankfully without swallowing anything. I got to the side and there were helping hands pulling me out. Tim had managed to grab the hose and the cow was soon safe. The farmer shouted, “Go up to the house, go upstairs and jump in the bath.” As I walked up the farmyard towards the house I shed the rest of my clothes, I was in the buff, not wishing to get too much ‘muck’ in the farmhouse. It was a nice hot soak and I returned downstairs to the hallway.

As I was about to leave by the rear door of the farmhouse a lady entered by the front door! I did not wait to find out who it was; I quickly covered my embarrassment with my hands and made a very hasty exit. I found a pair of overalls on the pump, and kept warm with my fire tunic. On the return journey nobody sat near me or my stinking clothes, but it was a job well done. This incident was a talking point for some time in the fire service and we all had a good laugh about my unexpected dunking in the slurry lagoon. I recently had the pleasure of meeting up with Mr. Tony Owen the farmer; he kindly invited me into the farmhouse for coffee. I chatted to him about the day the cows wandered into the lagoon. He was most complementary about our actions that day saying, “I was most grateful to the Firemen, they were absolutely superb and they worked so hard.”
* Land Rover