by Nicholas Cole

Created on: November 18, 2008

Having one bad day in a week is not good, but two bad days in the same week is a joke!

It happened to a colleague of mine when were retained firemen for the West Midlands Fire Service.

Bad day No1.

It was the long hot summer of 1976 the temperature hit 90 degrees day after day, the reservoirs dried up and even the tarmac on the roads melted. We had been called out every night for weeks after we had finished our full time jobs to put out grass fires, all usually within a couple of miles radius of our station. But on this particular night we were sent to Sutton Coldfield Park miles away from our area. Sutton Coldfield Park is nine square kilometers of grass and heath land; it is one the biggest urban parks in Europe and it had been burning for days. Under normal circumstances there would have been plenty of Stations closer to attend but due to the constant demand for engines mechanical breakdowns had become a major problem, so engines and crews from all over the Midlands were called upon to fill the gap.

The tried and tested method in those days of putting out grass fires was to beat the flames out with a simple beater made from two or three short pieces of fire hose nailed to a broom handle about two feet long. We had probably been there about three hours and the area we had been working was out so we headed back to where we had parked the engine for a well-earned drink. We had left the engine in a little car park that had picnic tables and benches in it, you know the sort of thing you find in country parks.

We had been sitting at this table for about ten minutes when along came our driver who shall remain nameless. He was carrying over his shoulder what looked like a pipe with an oval shaped ball on the end a little bit bigger than an American football. He heaved it off his shoulder and sent it skidding across the table in front of us. "What's that" we asked as one, "don't know" he replied "found it over there sticking up out the ground". We sat looking at it for a few minutes when one of the Sub officers from another station wandered over to look at our prize. He stopped about ten feet short of the table "what the hell, Jesus Christ, Oh my God, do you know what that is!" I think we all got the idea it was not something you should have on your picnic table. "That's a World War Two German incendiary bomb!" he bellowed. "Get this area cordoned off while I radio control." He came back about ten minutes later, "the good news is the Police and the Army Bomb Disposal

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>