Pot Noodles and a wildfire: Truro’s flat-out week on call

Somewhere on a moor near St Just, in the small hours, a Truro fire crew kept a wildfire from spreading with nothing to keep them going but instant coffee and a Pot Noodle. It was one shout in a run of shouts that has left the town’s on-call firefighters, for a spell, among the hardest-worked in Cornwall.

Truro’s On Call watch has recently been tied with Bodmin as the busiest in the county, and a single Friday shows why.

📷Credit: Truro Community Fire Station

A 100ft platform and a reignition in St Austell

The day started with the Aerial Ladder Platform being sent to St Austell, where the previous night’s fire at JD Sports had reignited. The ALP is a specialist appliance that can reach and work at a height of nearly 100ft. Crews used it to inject water into the building from above, and as a platform to strip away roof slates without putting the firefighters below at risk.

That was the calm part of the day.

📷Credit: Truro Community Fire Station

From a Truro crash to an all-nighter on the moor

Friday evening brought a road traffic collision in Truro and a large, fully developed fire at Rejerrah. The station’s other pump was sent first to Tolvaddon, then redirected to St Just for a large wildfire.

The crew fought that fire all night and into Saturday morning. It was physically punishing work on difficult moorland terrain, and the only fuel on hand was Pot Noodles and instant coffee. Back in Truro, they managed three hours of rest before being turned out again to an automatic fire alarm, then had another two hours off before a further call put them on standby at the station.

At 7pm they were sent back to St Just to rejoin the same wildfire. They returned to Truro and had the pump squared away by 3am before finally heading home to bed.

📷Credit: Truro Community Fire Station

Two and a half hours later, the pagers went again

The rest did not last. Pagers alerted the crew again two and a half hours later, and once more at 07:30, this time for a tumble dryer fire in St Agnes.

In their own words it has been a super busy period with some challenging shouts, great for morale but tough on the families at home. As the watch put it, thanking their wives and partners for their patience, and for putting up with how bad they smell after an all-nighter.

📷Credit: Truro Community Fire Station

📷Credit: Truro Community Fire Station