SeaHunt
10-01-2006, 10:34 AM
From the Courier Mail - not for me thanks.
IT'S not easy being a volunteer firefighter.
Especially when you are called on to clean up 1.5 tonnes of stinking, rotting fish, complete with poisonous gas.
This was the call out for about 50 Country Fire Authority (CFA) volunteers in Lakes Entrance, on Victorian's south-east coast yesterday.
The rancid fish were trapped in the hull of a boat that capsized on its way to the Lakes Entrance port last Thursday, with a full load of flathead.
CFA operations officer Gavin Hope said the boat's crew had since managed to upright the boat and get it to the jetty, but had been forced to leave it there, with fish on board, until insurance officers had made their damage assessment.
Mr Hope told ABC radio his crew got the dreaded call yesterday about 3.30pm (AEDT) to come and help clean up the putrid scene.
He said the firefighters had no choice but to "swing into action as we always do and get in there and get the thing cleaned up".
"We had 1.5 tonnes of rotting flathead floating in the hull of the boat in a browny green slime and a terrible smell – you wouldn't be able to stand within one metre, it was absolutely disgraceful," Mr Hope said.
"Down in the hull itself, we put some gas detection devices down there and we came up with some hydrogen sulphide that was being given off which can cause death."
Eight hours later, about midnight, the firefighters, assisted by the boat's crew, finally got the mess cleaned up.
Forced to clean the fish out manually, after a street sweeper suction hose system kept clogging, they took turns of 15 minutes each, wearing chemical suits and breathing apparatus and using shovels and fish bins.
Each firefighter had two turns in the hull, after water had been pumped down there to dilute the deadly gas.
"It was very time-consuming, very hard, hot work down in that ship's hull, so they did a fantastic job," Mr Hope said.
Tourists and residents watched at a safe distance, up wind.
Mr Hope said the chemical suits the firefighters wore would have to be destroyed, as they still reeked even after being cleaned.
He said the CFA volunteers had tackled the task with good humour.
And he agreed there should be some sort of civic award for them for saving the town from a very smelly fate.
"I reckon there should be," he said.
"But I don't think it will be a voucher from any sort of fish shop."
IT'S not easy being a volunteer firefighter.
Especially when you are called on to clean up 1.5 tonnes of stinking, rotting fish, complete with poisonous gas.
This was the call out for about 50 Country Fire Authority (CFA) volunteers in Lakes Entrance, on Victorian's south-east coast yesterday.
The rancid fish were trapped in the hull of a boat that capsized on its way to the Lakes Entrance port last Thursday, with a full load of flathead.
CFA operations officer Gavin Hope said the boat's crew had since managed to upright the boat and get it to the jetty, but had been forced to leave it there, with fish on board, until insurance officers had made their damage assessment.
Mr Hope told ABC radio his crew got the dreaded call yesterday about 3.30pm (AEDT) to come and help clean up the putrid scene.
He said the firefighters had no choice but to "swing into action as we always do and get in there and get the thing cleaned up".
"We had 1.5 tonnes of rotting flathead floating in the hull of the boat in a browny green slime and a terrible smell – you wouldn't be able to stand within one metre, it was absolutely disgraceful," Mr Hope said.
"Down in the hull itself, we put some gas detection devices down there and we came up with some hydrogen sulphide that was being given off which can cause death."
Eight hours later, about midnight, the firefighters, assisted by the boat's crew, finally got the mess cleaned up.
Forced to clean the fish out manually, after a street sweeper suction hose system kept clogging, they took turns of 15 minutes each, wearing chemical suits and breathing apparatus and using shovels and fish bins.
Each firefighter had two turns in the hull, after water had been pumped down there to dilute the deadly gas.
"It was very time-consuming, very hard, hot work down in that ship's hull, so they did a fantastic job," Mr Hope said.
Tourists and residents watched at a safe distance, up wind.
Mr Hope said the chemical suits the firefighters wore would have to be destroyed, as they still reeked even after being cleaned.
He said the CFA volunteers had tackled the task with good humour.
And he agreed there should be some sort of civic award for them for saving the town from a very smelly fate.
"I reckon there should be," he said.
"But I don't think it will be a voucher from any sort of fish shop."