http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-19308675

Wow.. wonder how this happened?

A cyclist had to be rescued by firefighters when she became stuck in mud off Riverside Drive in Neath.

Crews from Mid Wales Fire and Rescue Service used mats and ropes to help the woman in the incident shortly after 16:00 BST on Saturday.

It is not known how she came to be in the mud at the riverside close to the road bridge by the B&Q store.

It is understood the woman was not injured.

did she perhaps misunderstand “fat-biking” ?

she wanted to be rescued by a fireman,

hopefuly she will be getting a bill for their time,

hopefuly she will be getting a bill for their time,

Given you’ve got no idea how this happened (like the rest of us), how did you reach this conclusion?

Wrong tyres?

mogrim – Member

hopefuly she will be getting a bill for their time,

Given you’ve got no idea how this happened (like the rest of us), how did you reach this conclusion?

Soon to be privatised foire service will be billing for everything soon.

The river there is very tidal with a serious fall/rise. Just one of those things.

I hope she is ok and that the firemen didnt hurt themselves, alls well that ends well eh !

hopefuly she will be getting a bill for their time,

Given you’ve got no idea how this happened (like the rest of us), how did you reach this conclusion?

Soon to be privatised foire service will be billing for everything soon.

But we already pay for the fire service don’t we?

But that want stop them from finding ways to incresase income, as it was a water rescue, perhaps in future it would be refered to the RNLI,or the coastguard.

The sad thing is the fire service , a free service is going to be privatised, lots of prime city centre sites to be sold, or new ones built on PFI, like round here, multiple training and skills, to do many jobs, yet still lowly paid for the responsibility, job cuts, but new appliances , so little investment needed from the new owners, so thats why they will be charging, they already charge for false fire alarms and other things theyre called out for.

It will be a seriously sad day when they are privbatised.

project – Fireman by any chance?

But that want stop them from finding ways to incresase income, as it was a water rescue, perhaps in future it would be refered to the RNLI,or the coastguard.

The sad thing is the fire service , a free service is going to be privatised, lots of prime city centre sites to be sold, or new ones built on PFI, like round here, multiple training and skills, to do many jobs, yet still lowly paid for the responsibility, job cuts, but new appliances , so little investment needed from the new owners, so thats why they will be charging, they already charge for false fire alarms and other things theyre called out for.

It will be a seriously sad day when they are privbatised.

Yup that just about sums it up.

effectively what the current govt want is a volunteer/retained FS. They dont want to pay for professional service. year 4 of a pay freeze and massive pension contributions increase. The govt give **** all to us so they get **** all extra from me. I turn up do my work and go home nothing more no extras nothing.

Bitter you bet.

b r – Member
project – Fireman by any chance?

Sadly not, a great job with some great training and excitement, and some really horrible things you see. But this governmnet doesnt respect that, they see 4 blokes driving round in a red truck, squirting water.

Not a trained proffesional force, to deal with rtc,s, chemicla leaks, water rescues, plane crashes, train crashes, overweight people needing to go to hospital,stuck lifts, failed fire prevention fires, people trapped, suicides, and lots lots more.

Exactly bruneep I turn up five mins before shift and leave asap when its over. Govt and management have killed the job 🙁

Sounds similar to the big white taxis that we drive!

so thats why they will be charging, they already charge for false fire alarms and other things theyre called out for.

Is that true and if so, what other things?

yet still lowly paid for the responsibility

while you keep trying to pedal tripe like that you wont find much public sympathy.

just go on strike again.

Eileen Grimshaw filming a Corrie special?

You can be charged for special services anything that is non emergency such as gaining entry, domestic flooding etc etc. there has been talk of charging (recovering costs from insurance co) for RTC’s. Just watch the insurance premiums rise again.

Coming to you soon courtesy of the govt. your local privatised fire service. Accepting Visa, MasterCard and many more credit cards.

wont find much public sympathy

The public believe what the govt spin them, the public don’t give a flying **** until they want us just wait until nothing turns up for 30 mins or so. Then they will be moaning. Until then they think we are overpaid pool playing layabouts cleaning cars all day whilst arranging part time jobs on their days off.
I really don’t care what “the public think” anymore fed up trying to educate the stupid.

Exactly bruneep I turn up five mins before shift and leave asap when its over.

Well you wouldn’t want to be late for your other job.

At least the Firemen turn up if you ring them. Plod think it’s optional.

Sad that you perceive the public’s perception of your profession to be so negative Bruneep. I would not have thought that was the case.

But I do think that the public do take the proverbial when they expect to be able to call on you for certain “special services”, however they are defined and to escape sanction for false alarms, they are taking your scarce and valuable resources away from doing your principal job. In that case, why not charge them? (genuine question)

I think a little distribution within the ranks would be good, it seems some upper ranks are paid a fortune when compared to the lowly man.

Having said that when I stayed in Bristol earlier in the year there was an R8 in the station car-park for a good portion of the weekend i.e. overnight so I assume on shift. Damn site nicer than my car!

“At least the Firemen turn up if you ring them. Plod think it’s optional. ”

Not any more. Where my mate works they now have “firebrigade direct” to try and divert problems from being a call out. They try to avoid sending a pump to road traffics .

The brigade prided themselves on beating the police and ambulance to any incident, they now arrive on average 15 mins later than the ambulance as they will not attend unless it is confirmed they are actually need. 15 mins is a long time to wait in a crushed car, too long for many ambulance crews. My mate says that on a number of occasions when they have finaly arrived the paramedics have given up waiting and crawled into unstable wrecks to try and administer first aid.

Tory efficiency don’t you love it.

They try to avoid sending a pump to road traffics .

It’s called triaging an incident. There is no point in a fire crew attending if not required and if there is any doubt I’m bloody sure they err on the side of caution and send one immediately.

My mate says that on a number of occasions when they have finaly arrived the paramedics have given up waiting and crawled into unstable wrecks to try and administer first aid.

Not in my experience and more often than not I am the first ‘ambulance’ on scene and it’s usually the other way round as the ambulance service is so stretched.

it seems some upper ranks are paid a fortune when compared to the lowly man.

You think that’s not the case in any profession/company/public body? 😯

My mate says that on a number of occasions when they have finaly arrived the paramedics have given up waiting and crawled into unstable wrecks to try and administer first aid.

We don’t do First Aid and we make the call when it’s safe for us to go into a situation. For as long as I’ve worked in the service it’s often us who request the Fire, they will only send them automatically if the caller has asked for them. 15 minutes is a very good response time I wish we had the resources to do that.

Both the ambulance and fire service are being denied the staff, and sometimes the vehicles to get to locations fast enough, been 2 fires in north wales where big fire engines couldnt get up the roads and the houses burnt down.

If i see an accident and the vehicle is badly damaged, or on fire i ask for fire and ambulance, if its just a shunt and people are out on the highway then just an ambulance, thats asking first if anyone requires one.

Remember a fire engine going to a car crash is one less available to save your family geting burnt or your house burning down, same with ambulances, call an ambulance to taxi a drunk to hospital, and its one less to get to you when youre have ing a heart attack, or cut your hand off with a power tool.

I thought the Fire Service already did charge for false alarms ? I worked in a big public building, and the procedures were changed so that when the alarm sounds, the fire brigade aren’t contacted until a staff member has checked it out. If they don’t reply in 10 minutes the fire brigade are called (or something like that, not really my area, although I was astonished how moany the public were when I was fool enough to get caught out the front with visible staff ID when the alarm went one time “we just got here, can we get the bairns coats first” Er, No, the frackin building might be burning down, that will keep them warm.