Fire Ready at Mawson Station.

Mawson Power house fire 1959  Photo: J Bechervaise

 The risk of fire hazards in Antarctica are high. The air is very dry due to low humidity. That dryness desiccates building materials etc. At Mawson the wind is almost always blowing so if a fire starts it is fanned by strong wind. Fighting a fire anywhere is always dangerous but in the antarctic there are added hazards. Fighting fires in sub zero conditions has the added complication of needing protection both from excessive heat as well as cold. 

Mawson Fire Station (EVS)

Fire Hag ready for action.

 Water for fire fighting must be kept warm so it doesn’t freeze. Once water is sprayed it freezes when it contacts frozen surfaces such as rocks and concrete and dangerous black ice forms.

Site services enclosed in insulated piping.

Mawson station is built on a rocky outcrop and there is very little flat ground. Large slabs and boulders often make up the ground surface so getting the fire hag to a fire can be challenging. Site services such as water for heating, potable water and sewerage as well as electricity and communications cables all run above ground.

Fire suites plus breathing apparatus.

There are 3 concrete bridges on station crossing site services, in the event of a fire the fire hag follows the rough tracks to the closest hydrant but may travel quite a distance to get to it. The living quarters are located very close to the emergency vehicle store (EVS) which is the station fire station.

At Mawson there have been a number of fires over the years resulting in damage, inconvenience and the loss of buildings. The Mawson power house burnt down in a fire on 3 April 1959. A fire in the 90's badly damaged the kitchen. The oven had to be rebuilt on station to enable the chef to cook. In November 2003 a fire broke out in Biscoe Hut, one of five buildings constructed at Mawson when the base was established in 1954. Biscoe Hut is is on the heritage register and has been progressively restored since the fire.

Tas Fire trainers demonstrating extinguishers.

Pre-departure Training.
For us fire training started in early December 2010 at The Tasmanian Fire Service training facility at Cambridge. At ‘Tas Fire’ we attended an intensive one week course that included oil and gas fires, vehicle fires, fire rescue from smoke filled burning buildings, use of breathing apparatus (BA), confined space rescue and more.

Mist shield against high pressure gas cylinder fire

Rod operated the fire pump.

Muz - confined space rescue

Fire chief directing traffic.

BA rescue from burning building

Liquid fuel fire suppression.

Because fire is such a risk at Antarctic stations most station staff are on the fire team.  A Fire Chief is selected for each station who coordinates training and a response to each incident. The Fire Chief (Rolf) has two fire teams. One team is on standby for 2 weeks at a time while the other is off duty. Being on standby means that members need to be in a state of readiness to be able to respond to a fire alarm quickly.
 Being on fire team standby means limitations on drinking and leaving the station. In reality if wanting to leave the station it is a matter of arranging for someone from the other team cover while away. The fire teams are tagged on the fire board located in the mess. This is also the principle muster point for any fire or Search and Rescue (SAR) alarm. The Green Store is the muster point if there is a fire in the living quarters.

Fire board - red tags indicate off station.

On Station Training.
On station there are regular training scenarios and exercises that sometimes involve other emergency teams such as the medical or SAR team. There are also the occasional false alarm to keep us on our toes.

Fire alarms ring inside buildings and sirens wail outside being audible all around the station and beyond, there is no chance of missing a fire alarm! Each alarm requires a full response from all station personal.

BA gear ready for action.

Training exercise - Rushing to BA rescue.

The fire team is made up of 6 members and there are 2 fire teams. Including the fire chief that is 13 out of 19 station staff. There are also medical and SAR teams that have overlapping membership.

Obscured BA mask - search exercise Red Shed.

Each fire team has two members allocated to breathing apparatus (BA) if a smoke filled building needs to be entered. There are  2 members on the hoses who also backup on BA if required. The BA members back up on the hoses if required. . All on the team are trained on BA.

Debrief after BA exercise

The fifth member is the Fire Hag driver who operates the fire pump on the Hag at the fire ground and there is a tank house operator who ensures there is water available to the hydrants from fire water storage tanks at the top of the station.

My position on fire team 2 is BA2 (the second BA person)

There have been a number of training scenarios on station that have required the fire team to turn out including a couple of BA exercises, an outdoors fire and a fire in the incinerator building. Some of these also included a search and rescue and also a medical component.