Antarctica - Nuggies On Ice

Antarctica - Nuggies On Ice

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Basic Fire Training

Being in Antarctica at Scott Base, there is no local fire brigade. At Mactown there is the McMurdo Fire Brigade, but they are over 4 kilometres away by road. To prevent the base from being a pile of embers before they can get to Scott Base, the base staff are trained to be fire fighters. This training is fairly intense and covers all aspects of fire fighting; from fire extinguisher use to breathing apparatus; from laying and using hoses to operating a petrol engined water pump; and a whole lot more. During the summer season when the base is fully manned, there are 3 fire crews of up to 8 people on a rotating roster and during winter all 10 base staff double up positions to form 2 crews of 5 people.

Ah! I can hear what you are thinking! "Why do we need to fight fires in Antarctica? With all that snow around, how can anything burn?" Well the answer is that for all the snow, Antarctica is the driest place on earth. Air humidity is less than 10%, which allows buildings and materials to dry out so that they become very flammable. Finally - snow is not much use in putting out a fire - it can't be pumped, shovelling it is too slow and most of it has turned to ice. So, there is a need for other methods of fighting fires.

Fire crew training is carried out by the New Zealand Fire Service at their training establishment in Woolston, Christchurch in New Zealand's South Island. During the last week of September, all base staff are put through a rigorous training schedule that covers the operation and use of all the fire fighting equipment held at Scott Base. The intention is that each fire crew will be manned by specialists on each type of equipment, but that everbody should be able to pick up other jobs if necessary and also to allow fire crew members to be spelled if they have to go off base for any reason.

Because, in a real fire situation, preservation of life is the prime concern, a lot of the training focuses on wearing and using self contained breathing apparatus, (BA). We are taught to know the limits of the BA equipment and what our capabilities are when using it. The training involves simulated rescue drills in heat chambers and putting out fires of types we may encounter when in Antarctica. We are also taught how to use fire extinguishers and hoses while wearing the BA.

Use of ordinary fire extinguishers is emphasised also, as the first picture shows. These can often have the fire out before it becomes a problem.

One of the more spectacular drills is carried out at the crash-fire training ground at Christchurch airport and centres around putting out fires in aircraft. The reason for this type of drill is that the primary mode of transport to and from the field are helicopters. Should one crash at the Scott Base helo pads, we need to know how to deal with fighting the fire.

Mock-ups of a fixed-wing aircraft and a helicopter are set on fire and we are required to put the fires out using water pumped from a 41mm (1�") hose. The heat from this type of fire can be rather intense, but we are taught that behind a fan of water from our hose we are quite safe, providing we don't break the "curtain" of water. The sequence above shows the "helicopter" on fire, followed by the fire crew attacking the fire using only a hose and, finally, the fire is out.

Fire Drills

By the time we get to Scott Base, we have been formed into 3 fire crews. Each fire crew consists of a Fire Chief, (who is in charge of the fire scene), 2 BA operators, (who are at the sharp end of any action), a Wajax operator (the water pump is called a Wajax after its brand name), an engineer, (who connects the pumped water supply to the base sprinkler system to supplement the header tanks if needed and who turns off any base services necessary for safety), a hose layer, (who lays out the hose pack between the Wajax and the fire scene), and 2 auxillary crew, (who bring fire extinguishers to the fire scene and also act as runners for the Fire Chief).

When the last of the summer base staff go home in the middle of February, the 10 people remaining at Scott Base are formed into 2 crews of 5 people. This means a bit of doubling up of responsibilities - the engineer takes on the hose layers job as well as his own and all base staff not on fire crew duty act as the auxilliaries.

Training doesn't stop just because we have reached the ice. At least once a month we have a fire drill and for the first 2-3 weeks we have quite a number to bed the new crews into working in the Scott Base environment. These drills are staged to simulate possible fire scenarios that we could encounter. They cover industrial accidents and chemical spillages as well as the usual type of fire with flames and smoke, (we don't actually set fire to anything, we just use stage smoke generators).

Sometimes the drills involve what is known as Mutual Aid. This is where the Fire Chief requests assistance from the Mactown Fire Department. The reasons may be varied - a need for more pumping capacity, specialised medical/ paramedic requirements, or just because more man-power is needed. This is good practice because in the event of a real emergency, the assistance from over the hill would be invaluable in the speedy resolution of the situation.

These pictures were taken during a mutual aid drill that took place just before Christmas of 1999. The scenario was that there had been a gas explosion in our warehouse area. As well as the fire/gas situation we had a number of workers badly injured by shrapnel from the gas cylinder bursting. Mutual aid was requested from Mactown by radio and within minutes an ambulance and tanker engine were on the scene at Scott Base. The Scott Base Fire Chief retained overall command of the scene and liaised with the Mactown Fire Captain.

The picture at top left is the first victim being recovered and being attended to by paramedics. The picture at top right is the victim being evacuated by ambulance. Bottom left is the second victim being evacuated. Bottom right is the pumping station on the Mactown firetruck.

The first thing you may notice about these scenes is that there is a lack of snow on the ground. This is standard summer condition at Scott Base and Mactown. The second thing you may notice is that apart from the occasional thick jacket, most people are wearing ordinary casual gear, so it doesn't feel as cold as you might think.