Three Bridges signalling centre evacuated due to fire alarm

[ushawk]

Certainly, if this had happened at 1600 or 1700, it would have caused an even worse situation, as masses of commuters would be stranded at their places of work rather than (perhaps) nearer to home, and anyone staying late in London or wherever would have faced mass chaos in getting home in the evening. If you imagine what happened on that infamous day when there was both a landslip at South Croydon and a train fire at Brighton, or during the snow of December 2010, you might get half the picture (mind you, I'm not saying you don't already!).

Im apologise that im going to be pedantic now.

The South Croydon landslide was 1 single incident in August 2011. In January 2012 there was a person hit by a train at South Croydon and a train fire at Brighton. Not forgetting the Balcombe tunnel problems in November 2011 either - i believe the incident in January 2012 was the last Code BLACK for Southern before last Friday.

(Just in case you dont know, Southern run colours for disruption. GREEN means good service, YELLOW is minor disruption, RED is major disruption and BLACK is basically major disruption/suspension across the entire network.)

Oh, and you cant expect an Emergency timetable to be put in half way through service. SWT attempted to do that in the snow last year, and as i recall it made everything 1000 times worse. They can only be implemented at the start of service. That said, Southern DO have emergency timetables ready in case they are needed, that was last implemented just before Christmas when there was the fire at Preston Park.

 

[michael769]

It is a CO2 flood system and can completely fill the room quicker than the time it would take to get to the door. The system also kills the electrical power to the room, obviously and I wouldn't fancy my chances in there in the dark.

A totally different kettle of fish. If that goes off then whoever is inside is dead. They don't even get a chance to suffocate, its the violent increase in barometric pressure that gets them. What was your Health and Safety rep doing when that was authorised? Banning the staff toaster?

FM-200 is designed to be used in occupied spaces. I'm told its not much fun as it make you feel like you are being frozen to death but it's apparently not disabling enough to prevent folks from leaving the area.

Asphyxiant flood systems (we looked at argonite) are way too scary, we decided we'd rather let things burn than have one of those in the building.

 

[tsr]

Im apologise that im going to be pedantic now.

The South Croydon landslide was 1 single incident in August 2011. In January 2012 there was a person hit by a train at South Croydon and a train fire at Brighton. Not forgetting the Balcombe tunnel problems in November 2011 either - i believe the incident in January 2012 was the last Code BLACK for Southern before last Friday.

(Just in case you dont know, Southern run colours for disruption. GREEN means good service, YELLOW is minor disruption, RED is major disruption and BLACK is basically major disruption/suspension across the entire network.)

Oh, and you cant expect an Emergency timetable to be put in half way through service. SWT attempted to do that in the snow last year, and as i recall it made everything 1000 times worse. They can only be implemented at the start of service. That said, Southern DO have emergency timetables ready in case they are needed, that was last implemented just before Christmas when there was the fire at Preston Park.

Apologies - yes, I am getting my incidents mixed up!

I know exactly what the colours mean, having read the documents where they are defined.

 

[Bald Rick]

Meanwhile Exeter PSB was evacuated due to a fire alert in the middle of the day yesterday. And no-one noticed!

 

[ushawk]

Meanwhile Exeter PSB was evacuated due to a fire alert in the middle of the day yesterday. And no-one noticed!

I did see on NRE that something had happened, though it was just down as "fire alarms sounding at the station" !!

 

[tsr]

Meanwhile Exeter PSB was evacuated due to a fire alert in the middle of the day yesterday. And no-one noticed!

I noticed, too, but of course that was clearly so very off topic and the fact that I didn't post about it on this thread was down to that and not due to my general forgetfulness

 

[Crossover]

They let you in a room with automatic fire supression equipment in it and you a) dont know what it is and b) you dont turn it off when you go in there? hock:hock:

Our machine room is where my traffic control server, primary network core switch and cctv server is held. It took me a year of badgering the head of IT to get me access without being escorted by an IT tech (mainly because we have external client systems in there as well as our own) but also because of safety implications. The room is key-card restricted to trained personnel only and it is a disciplinary offence to be in there with the fire system in automatic mode.

It is a CO2 flood system and can completely fill the room quicker than the time it would take to get to the door. The system also kills the electrical power to the room, obviously and I wouldn't fancy my chances in there in the dark.

I checked the sign (I did know what it was but couldn't remember off-hand) and it is HFC-227ea (or for the chemists - 1,1,1,2,3,3,3-Heptafluoropropane) and the notice outside says that it isn't deadly but is unpleasant. I believe it used to be turned to manual during the day long before I started but I believe it was found more of a nuisance so the only times I have set it to manual is when we've had workmen in doing anything that could trigger it. It has been serviced in my time and it wasn't commented about leaving it auto being a bad move. It also has a siren and 5 second delay before discharge - being a small room and having two points of access/exit, it would be OK.

Since I am the IT tech, no badgering is required to get access :P

The last place I worked had a fire supression system and we weren't told to do anything when we went in there either. It may well have been FM-200 there, as I'm fairly certain I have seen warning signs for that somewhere

 

[michael769]

it is HFC-227ea (or for the chemists - 1,1,1,2,3,3,3-Heptafluoropropane)

Thats just another name for FM-200.

 

[High Dyke]

...The last place I worked had a fire supression system and we weren't told to do anything when we went in there either. It may well have been FM-200 there, as I'm fairly certain I have seen warning signs for that somewhere

That reminds me of a Rail Dangerous Goods Incident a number of years ago. The driver of a loaded Immingham - Rectory Tanks phoned me and reported "i'm on fire." Eventually he assured me it was only the loco that had suffered a fire, and that he had discharged the fire bottles: "was he to go in and have a look?" he enquired. I told him not to do that or they would be carrying him out in a little black bag... Needless to say the fire service dealt with the matter correctly.