Do you think that the firefighters were 'woefully prepared'?

[BiscLimpkit]

Aye I noticed that the Fire Brigade's Union claimed that the firefighters who handled the recent Hertfordshire blaze were 'woefully prepared'.

Are they right to critisise?

I found the statement remarkably harsh, as this sort of blaze is tremendously difficult to put out. I remember a similar incident in Iran which took 26 days to extinguish. Granted it was in the 50's but a stratigic approach was still required - you can't just shove bucket loads of water on it.

Now that everything is under control, it seems rather selfish to critisise after the team worked hard to put the fire out. Everyone looks exhausted and the first thing they here is critisism - so naturally they must feel gutted. IMO, from what I gather - the operation was quite successful no? I mean good organisational skills - utilising various departments including industrial fire specialists.

Anyone care to comment?

[grim_tales]

I agree with you Bisc - its harsh to criticize them IMO. They worked very hard and it was said to be the biggest explosion/fire even seen in the UK in peacetime (or something like that). How the feck were they supposed ro be "prepared" for that? They did a very good job under the circumstances IMO.