I am sure we can all remember ‘The Beast from the East?’
I was certain that Devon wasn’t going to get snow, as a rule
we don’t get much interruption from snow, it’s there on the Dartmoor for us all
to go and play in, but then we go home and carry on with an un-disrupted life.
March 2018, however, was a whole different ball game.
We all got the text through, asking if we could possibly
spare some hours to be standby on our own stations whilst the snow came down
harder through the day. There wasn’t really much choice and not much of
anything else that we could do anyway. We packed up bags, grabbed sleeping bags
and food and made our way to the Fire Station.
If there was ever a way to get to know your new friends,
this was it. I had been going to drill nights before my induction in October
2017, but spending many hours at a time with the crew, you got to properly
bond. You also got to know who snores….it became a bit of an issue for a few of
us, and if we have to be on standby again, we know who is sleeping in the
appliance bay away from everyone else!
For three days, we ate crisps and biscuits and drank copious
amounts of tea, as well as watching, among other things, ‘London’s Burning!’
an absolute classic, and the reason I wanted to become a Firefighter back in
1986…..showing my age now.
We did get a shout during this time, we had snow chains on
the appliance, tried several different variants on route, but mostly came up
against six foot plus snow drifts, we couldn’t believe how much had fallen
while we were in the warm safety of the Fire Station. Another station were
trying to access the property from a different side and also not having any
success, we had to call for some extra help, in the form of a little gator! I
had gone home to walk my dogs at this point as the team went back out and froze
in the back of the little gator, going down snow-tunnels in the back lanes to
eventually get to the property. They still talk now about how cold it was, and
I’m not ashamed to say, I’m glad I didn’t have to do that, I don’t do cold very
well!
After three days the snow subsided and started to melt, we
returned back to our homes and our beds and Devon returned back to normal.
