Fire on station platform

[bathbuses]

Today I witnessed a fire that had started in a bin on the platform at a small unmanned station. Thankfully the fire service arrived promptly to put it out before it spread. It was a plastic bin that was falling apart on the floor whilst on fire.
There's a few things about this which I'm curious about
(1) The fire brigade were called but a train pulled in as normal just as they were arriving. I was very surprised contact was not made to stop the train given a 999 call had been made at the station? The platform is quite narrow and had the fire escalated my instinct is that it would be very dangerous to have a train in/going through the station?
(2) The fire was clearly visible to the guard and as I said the platform is quite narrow so several leaving passengers walked in very close proximity to the fire to exit the station. I was surprised the guard opened the doors as normal, but perhaps their priority would be to get the train out of the station as soon as possible? What is the point at which a guard should decide not to open doors and continue to the next station?
(3) The platform is immediately after a fairly long road bridge so that if there was a serious fire on the platform the driver wouldn't see until they were under the bridge at least. It made me wonder: if there is a severe danger ahead, what would be the best way to attract the attention of a driver from the other side of the bridge and convince them you aren't just messing about? Is it actually possible?
Overall the incident was handled differently to what I would have expected. I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts.

 

[AlterEgo]

A lot of this is contextual. Which station was it, and where exactly is the bin?

 

[bathbuses]

A lot of this is contextual. Which station was it, and where exactly is the bin?

Platform 2 at Bilbrook station near Wolverhampton
The bin is next to the waiting shelter, a couple of metres from the platform edge

 

[Towers]

Assuming the guard was responsible for releasing the doors, their focus when carrying out their local door procedure is ensuring the train is correctly platformed, rather than observing a smouldering binbag on the floor; that would be easily missed initially as it isn’t the focus of the guard’s attention at that point.

The best outcome would then have been for the guard to use an extinguisher from on board to put out the fire, if appropriate.

 

[IanXC]

(1) The fire brigade were called but a train pulled in as normal just as they were arriving. I was very surprised contact was not made to stop the train given a 999 call had been made at the station? The platform is quite narrow and had the fire escalated my instinct is that it would be very dangerous to have a train in/going through the station?

Presumably a member of the public had called the fire brigade, thats not guarantee they will call Network Rail to advise them, often the case with line side fires and so on too.

 

[Narrowgauge725]

If fire service personnel were going on the track they would have requested all trains be stopped. If going near the track they would request a caution. But a platform is somewhere people stand in relative safety so why disrupt trains unless necessary to do so. The OIC of the fire crew would be able to make a dynamic risk assessment to decide.

 

[driverd]

Assuming the guard was responsible for releasing the doors, their focus when carrying out their local door procedure is ensuring the train is correctly platformed, rather than observing a smouldering binbag on the floor; that would be easily missed initially as it isn’t the focus of the guard’s attention at that point.

Actually that's not entirely correct. As well as ensuring the entire train is platformed, its also the guards job to ensure that it is safe to open the doors (eg: ensuring there are no safety risks on the platform).

Depending on the scale of the fire, a safe workaround could have been to move forward and release only a certain portion of the train with SDO (if available).

It is, however, all subjective - the guard may have seen the bin fire and assessed that, in their opinion, it didn't pose sufficient risk to prevent a door release. Whilst the platform may be narrow, if only a handful of people were alighting here (something the guard would know from ticket checks/route knowledge), the risk may be relatively small.

The best outcome would then have been for the guard to use an extinguisher from on board to put out the fire, if appropriate.

Agreed. If it was a small bin fire, that's precisely the type of fire the extinguishers are for.

 

[Lucan]

It made me wonder: if there is a severe danger ahead, what would be the best way to attract the attention of a driver from the other side of the bridge and convince them you aren't just messing about?

Wave something red, I think most drivers would respect that, and at least proceed with caution. Not that I usually wear anything that is red that I could wave.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

Wave something red, I think most drivers would respect that, and at least proceed with caution. Not that I usually wear anything that is red that I could wave.

Could you not tear off part of your red flannel petticoat and wave that?

 

[Skiddaw]

Could you not tear off part of your red flannel petticoat and wave that?

That's exactly what I was going to say!

 

[TUC]

I do think most people would just think 'oh that bin's on fire ' and just get off the train, walk past, and get on with life. They would not thank you for being carried on to another station for such a minor incident.