REPORTS OF COMMITTEES OF THE A.M.C

A Control Point was situated at the entrance to the Dock and was a rendezvous point for all reinforcing appliances, and by means of "Walkie-talkie" sets a forward control was set up at the incident. Of the reinforcing pumps, just one pump was detailed to set into the Dock Basin and be prepared to deliver water to the incident, should it be· desirable.

This serious fire, in my opinion, was put out quickly by the fact that foam in copious quantity was put on to the fire immediately. A 'stop' message was sent at 0815 hours.

After investigation it was found that the cause of the fire was due to Discol being pumped through a product line into the front compartment of the tank wagon by means of a 10 foot hose, the 'nozzle of which was approximately only 9in. or 1 ft. in the manhole, and when loading commenced, the bend in the hose became greater, and in so doing lifted the nozzle from the manhole, causing petrol to cascade over the driver's cab of the tanker, under the bonnet into the engine, where a spark from the system (the main battery switch not having been switched off), ignited the petrol vapour, the resultant flames caused a flash-back into the petrol tank and ignited petrol issuing from the supply tube.

The driver who was on top of the vehicle, switched off the supply tube by means of a valve, went to the rear of his vehicle and to safety. Three vehicles in close proximity were driven away to safety by the drivers, and the remaining vehicle which had just been filled and was being driven away, became ignited by the flames. The driver of this vehicle scrambled clear, and two lids of the two rear compartments of this lorry were damaged by explosion.

The total damage was a large quantity of Petroleum Spirit burned, two x 4,000 gallons petrol tankers severely damaged by fire and heat, and approximately one half of loading bay and supply piping and hose damaged by fire and heat, and half of roof off.

It has been estimated that the product loss of the Company was 500 gallons of Regular, 500 gallons of Golden and 500 gallons of Extra Gasolene.

Ninety gallons of Foam-making Compound were used to extinguish the flames.

Appliances and equipment were drawn from Brigades in Lancashire, Blackburn, Blackpool and Southport.

FIRE SERVICE COMMITTEE, llth January, 1966 Standing Advisory Committee on Dangerous Substances

The Advisory Committee held its first meeting_ on 13th September, 1965, at which the work of the comtm!tee was outlined. It was agreed to set up three sub-committees to consider: 1. Packaging and labelling of dangerous substances_; 2. Operation of vehicles involved in the transportat10n of dangerous substances; 3. Construction of vehicles used for the conveyance by road of dangerous substances.

The Chief Fire Officer of Swansea serves on SubCommittee (I), which has also met for the first He sought our views on the general question of the of dangerous substances in the form of liquids (to which attention is to be given first); symbols in keeping with _those by the European agreement concerning the national carriage of dangerous goods by road were envisaged. In_ our opinion, such marking is desirable and in order to convey immediate essential information ab<?ut the substances to the fire service, the police and others, m case of accidents.

TOWN PLANNING COMMITTEE, 14th January, 1966 Advertisement Signs-Petroleum Stations

We have considered the following letter from the town clerk of a non-county borough:

17th December, 1965. The Borough Engineer recently expressed concern over the lack of control which local planning authorities have over the advertisement displays on certain petrol filling stations within the borough.

It will be remembered that some years ago, there was a national campaign by the petrol companies to clear up untidy signing and to substitute the now familiar pole signs.

It would seem that in this borough and elsewhere. the position has since deteriorated and multifarious signs have appeared of a permanent or semi-permanent character, advertising oils, tyres, batteries and other products.

Added to these are displays used in 'crash ment campaigns', instituted by the petrol compames and where banners, flags and other devices such as "Four Gallons ls. off'', "Put a Tiger in Your Tank", etc., appear for short periods. Such techniques are embarrassing the proper administration of plannin& as by the time a challenge has been resolved the devices can be removed and another campaign can be instituted later.

The Borough Council consider there should be a tyding up of the law by new regulations and that s1:1ch regulations be in the clearest possible language leavmg no doubt as to their interpretation. The present regulations are not as clear as they could be, and an example of this is the section dealing with advertisements on business premises".

We are again expressing to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government our disappointment at the continued failure to deal effectively with the clutter problem by means of new regulations.

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