Fire Risk

Is there a forum where steam operators can get together with NR to discuss matters of common interest like that one?

 

Agree Peter. I would imagine that would be one of the very first questions to be asked before anything started on a conversion.

Bryan

 

North West Red from Thursday with note ‘UFN’ (so beyond the five day forecast we’re given).
Otherwise the nation is largely amber with the odd Green and Red covering areas where there are no notified steam movements.

 

Perhaps North West region needs split, given that in Cumbria the temperatures at today in the mid-teens and it has rained all day. The "heat" peaked yesterday in the very low 20s. After 35 days without rain between Easter and Whit, we've hardly had a consistent dry (or warm) spell of more than a couple of days since.

 

I am confused. Are NR now saying it is safer to run steam down to Dorset than last week, even though it has only rained very lightly for a couple of hours since the Swanage Belle had to be diesel hauled last Wednesday as I understood the whole of the south was black.

 

If I am reading post 143 correctly - we in the bulk of England are Amber?! There has been almost no rain for ages over very large swathes of the country away from the NW, and very high amounts of very strong sunshine. I simply can't believe that the fire risk is as low as it has been assessed to be. Something is amiss somewhere. As the days slide by, I foresee the 9 July 'End of Southern Steam' being ironically-hauled!

 

I am merely acting as a messenger and in good faith sharing information.

The fire risk status is updated daily based on a daily Met Office report. I cannot report on information as to why it is one status one week vs the next, but there seems to be an algorithm based around the conditions presented over the UK. All operators appear to be acting very responsibly and diesels are assisting many operations whatever the status, limiting the risk and therefore not bringing questions (within the NR) as to how the fire risk index is presented.

However, I do know that higher managers (local area managers etc) have the power to overwrite the fire risk status in their patch. If they determine the risk to be greater than what the fire risk status presents, then they will act accordingly in the presence of a notified steam movement.