Lincoln and Nottingham RRT support the emergency services at Briggs scrapyard fire in Newark

At 13:45pm on Wednesday 17th April 2019, Nottingham RRT got a call from the head of Nottingham fire service requesting their support on a protracted fire at Briggs scrapyard in Newark.

Within two hours teams from Nottingham and Lincoln had mobilised and were en-route to this large fire. There were already over 70 emergency service personnel on the ground from across Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, and they needed additional support as they had been fighting the fire from 11:15am.

By 15:45pm 12 volunteers from Nottingham and 6 from Lincoln had set up the RRT marquees at the side of the Great North Road following its closure and served cold drinks and snacks to the fire crews.

It soon became apparent that these fire fighters required a good meal having been firefighting in tough conditions for hours. Magnesium – a lightweight metal commonly used in engine parts – was believed to have been involved, and this complicated their efforts to put out the blaze. By 19:00pm the signature RRT burger meal was being served to the fire fighters.

By 22:00pm all RRT personnel had left site having served 200 burger meals to some incredibly grateful fire fighters.

The fire brigade had numerous specialist appliances on site, including two aerial ladder platforms, water bowser and a high-pressure pump hose which was drawing water from the River Trent 2.5km away.

There were also a number of other agencies on the ground including the Environment Agency, Western Power Distribution and East Midlands Ambulance Service with one of their incident response units.