The Crooked House has burnt down!

[Kim]

BBC Midlands Today had an item this evening where the Fire Brigade chap said that newly tipped mounds of earth were in the lane and driveway leading to the pub, preventing his trucks getting nearer than about 800yards - so much unrolling of hoses and presumably delay in getting the water there.

Big delay.  The despatched response to a bog standard building fire would be 2 trucks here unless there were special circumstances.  The compliment of hose on a standard truck in my neck of the woods is 9x25m lengths so you would need at least 4 trucks there before you can even reach 800m.  The person in charge of the first two pumps will have requested extra as soon as they arrived and had a few seconds to scope out the problem, but add to that delay the fact that truck 3 and 4 will be coming from further away you presume.

Don’t even ask about issues with pressure loss due to friction over that distance if you can’t get a second and even third pump in the middle of the run somewhere to boost the pressure again.  In that situation, you are going to be struggling to get an effective firefighting effort in place in anything like a quick time if all the hose and portable pumps had to be lugged in from 800m away. I have run a water supply in over that kind of distance a couple of times in the past and blowing out of my arse and frothing at the mouth explains the physical result best.  No wonder it was a total loss.  The fire investigation report will make interesting reading me thinks.

Hmm.  How good are fire hoses at reducing freshly tipped mounds of earth to the sort of muddy puddle you can drive a large vehicle through?

Would still take time, though.

[JellyLegs]

BBC Midlands Today had an item this evening where the Fire Brigade chap said that newly tipped mounds of earth were in the lane and driveway leading to the pub, preventing his trucks getting nearer than about 800yards - so much unrolling of hoses and presumably delay in getting the water there.

Big delay.  The despatched response to a bog standard building fire would be 2 trucks here unless there were special circumstances.  The compliment of hose on a standard truck in my neck of the woods is 9x25m lengths so you would need at least 4 trucks there before you can even reach 800m.  The person in charge of the first two pumps will have requested extra as soon as they arrived and had a few seconds to scope out the problem, but add to that delay the fact that truck 3 and 4 will be coming from further away you presume.

Don’t even ask about issues with pressure loss due to friction over that distance if you can’t get a second and even third pump in the middle of the run somewhere to boost the pressure again.  In that situation, you are going to be struggling to get an effective firefighting effort in place in anything like a quick time if all the hose and portable pumps had to be lugged in from 800m away. I have run a water supply in over that kind of distance a couple of times in the past and blowing out of my arse and frothing at the mouth explains the physical result best.  No wonder it was a total loss.  The fire investigation report will make interesting reading me thinks.

Hmm.  How good are fire hoses at reducing freshly tipped mounds of earth to the sort of muddy puddle you can drive a large vehicle through?

Would still take time, though.

I want to say I have not tested that but I am pretty confident the answer is they would be  totally ineffective.  It would be very very messy and probably great comedic value unless it was your property that was on fire.

[Kim]

BBC Midlands Today had an item this evening where the Fire Brigade chap said that newly tipped mounds of earth were in the lane and driveway leading to the pub, preventing his trucks getting nearer than about 800yards - so much unrolling of hoses and presumably delay in getting the water there.

Big delay.  The despatched response to a bog standard building fire would be 2 trucks here unless there were special circumstances.  The compliment of hose on a standard truck in my neck of the woods is 9x25m lengths so you would need at least 4 trucks there before you can even reach 800m.  The person in charge of the first two pumps will have requested extra as soon as they arrived and had a few seconds to scope out the problem, but add to that delay the fact that truck 3 and 4 will be coming from further away you presume.

Don’t even ask about issues with pressure loss due to friction over that distance if you can’t get a second and even third pump in the middle of the run somewhere to boost the pressure again.  In that situation, you are going to be struggling to get an effective firefighting effort in place in anything like a quick time if all the hose and portable pumps had to be lugged in from 800m away. I have run a water supply in over that kind of distance a couple of times in the past and blowing out of my arse and frothing at the mouth explains the physical result best.  No wonder it was a total loss.  The fire investigation report will make interesting reading me thinks.

Hmm.  How good are fire hoses at reducing freshly tipped mounds of earth to the sort of muddy puddle you can drive a large vehicle through?

Would still take time, though.

I want to say I have not tested that but I am pretty confident the answer is they would be  totally ineffective.  It would be very very messy and probably great comedic value unless it was your property that was on fire.

Sounds like it's worth testing, for SCIENCE.  Preferably in the front garden of whoever turns out to be responsible...

[quixoticgeek]

Sounds like it's worth testing, for SCIENCE.  Preferably in the front garden of whoever turns out to be responsible...

Lack of imagination.

Living room of whoever is responsible...

J

[Kim]

Sounds like it's worth testing, for SCIENCE.  Preferably in the front garden of whoever turns out to be responsible...

Lack of imagination.

Living room of whoever is responsible...

Give the firefighters some credit.  I'm sure they'd be perfectly capable of  a) sandblasting any wankpanzers etc. in the driveway  b) ensuring plenty of run-off into the living room.

[quixoticgeek]

Give the firefighters some credit.  I'm sure they'd be perfectly capable of  a) sandblasting any wankpanzers etc. in the driveway  b) ensuring plenty of run-off into the living room.

Fair.

J

[hellymedic]

The pub has now been demolished.
We don't know by whom...

[Jurek]

A handy way of getting rid of any evidence of how the fire was started.
This whole thing stinks.
And not just of smoke.

[rogerzilla]

It's already been demolished.  All very suspicious.

[robgul]

BBC Midlands Today had an item this evening where the Fire Brigade chap said that newly tipped mounds of earth were in the lane and driveway leading to the pub, preventing his trucks getting nearer than about 800yards - so much unrolling of hoses and presumably delay in getting the water there.

Big delay.  The despatched response to a bog standard building fire would be 2 trucks here unless there were special circumstances.  The compliment of hose on a standard truck in my neck of the woods is 9x25m lengths so you would need at least 4 trucks there before you can even reach 800m.  The person in charge of the first two pumps will have requested extra as soon as they arrived and had a few seconds to scope out the problem, but add to that delay the fact that truck 3 and 4 will be coming from further away you presume.

Don’t even ask about issues with pressure loss due to friction over that distance if you can’t get a second and even third pump in the middle of the run somewhere to boost the pressure again.  In that situation, you are going to be struggling to get an effective firefighting effort in place in anything like a quick time if all the hose and portable pumps had to be lugged in from 800m away. I have run a water supply in over that kind of distance a couple of times in the past and blowing out of my arse and frothing at the mouth explains the physical result best.  No wonder it was a total loss.  The fire investigation report will make interesting reading me thinks.

Hmm.  How good are fire hoses at reducing freshly tipped mounds of earth to the sort of muddy puddle you can drive a large vehicle through?

Would still take time, though.

From the TV pix the pile you saw was about 4' high and 10' wide - so substantial (and probably contained bricks and other solid materials?)

Update on the BBC news this morning shows that the burnt out shell has now been completely demolished - ironically the drone shot I saw had 3 of the ubiquitous IKEA high chairs standing by the building!

[rogerzilla]

It appears that listed building protection doesn't apply if the structure is too far gone to save, which is why it's so suspicious.  My guess is that a planning application for a large development is on its way.  Hopefully whatever is built subsides like the pub did.

[Jaded]

I don’t think it was listed.

[rogerzilla]

I don’t think it was listed.

Grade II, apparently.

[Jaded]

Well, if it is Listed it has been done very recently.

Image showing Listed Buildings (I and II) Yellow and Green circles




Image showing the pub

[Jaded]

and an aerial shot shows how isolated it is. With landfill to the south and a sewage works to the East. Surrounded by trees. Odd place for a development.

[rogerzilla]

Golf course?

[Jaded]

Golf course?

There's already one to the North at Himley Hall.

[bikepacker]

Often drank in there back in my teens and twenties. A group of us would meet there before going on to other drinking places.

[Mr Larrington]

Golf course?

There's already one to the North at Himley Hall.

The golf course is a social animal, though.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

I'm sure Barratts or Persimmons could rebuild it.

[Mr Larrington]

Wet Midlands mayor has asked to be kept informed of police and fire service investigations; has also asked South Staffs cooncil to make sure it stays a pub.

[andyoxon]

The pub has now been demolished.
We don't know by whom...

Yes, on fire very late Saturday, found fully demolished on Monday...   

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Andy Street calls for Crooked House to be 'rebuilt brick by brick' after Dudley pub demolished

In a separate letter to the Chiefs of Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service and Staffordshire Police, the duo said they were also "intrigued" by the fact emergency services faced "blocked access when trying to get to the scene" due to a huge pile of dirt in the road and asked to be kept "abreast" of the investigation.

[Jurek]

Andy Street calls for Crooked House to be 'rebuilt brick by brick' after Dudley pub demolished

In a separate letter to the Chiefs of Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service and Staffordshire Police, the duo said they were also "intrigued" by the fact emergency services faced "blocked access when trying to get to the scene" due to a huge pile of dirt in the road and asked to be kept "abreast" of the investigation.

If they do decide to rebuild it as it was , it'll be quite interesting to see how they manage to rebuild it on the pi$$.
Oh - Did someone mention Barrett's and Persimmons earlier?
Their intervention should do it.

[hellymedic]

It's already been demolished.  All very suspicious.

Bzzzt!