‘We train and train and train for this’ - Officers reflect on Octopus fire

Duty officer Danny Joyce said that this incident was the most high-profile of his 30-year career in the fire service.

‘I would say that I have been to bigger fires, but I don’t think I have been to such a high profile fire in the centre of town.

'It was something that so many people have seen and followed, and there is a lot of public sympathy for the owners because so many people have enjoyed that restaurant, enjoyed eating there,’ he said.

‘I’ve had a lot of people talk to me about it and I’ve never had that reaction before, so I’d say the level of public concern and the awareness has really been a big difference for me for this one.’

He described walking into a fire as ‘having all senses taken away’, but thermal imaging cameras allowed firefighters to see.

‘We train and train and train for this, we do simulations all the time with simulated smoke. Inside the restaurant it was very dark, it was very full of smoke and extremely warm, but we train so it is like second nature to us,’ he said.

The isolation of the building and the unsociable hour that the fire occurred meant firefighters could focus on the fire rather than risks of other premises catching alight or people involved.

‘There were a lot of things that I may have to consider and worry about that actually weren’t an issue in this job.

‘Some things were more difficult but some were definitely easier, and the main thing was that no one is hurt,’ said Mr Joyce.

‘As a fire service, we’re here to rescue people and we will do our very best as we did in this case, but we will not risk our lives unnecessarily for property.’

Measures were taken during the incident to keep firefighters as safe as possible while dealing with long exposure to smoke and chemicals.

‘Shower within the hour’, which is one of the best practices to prevent firefighter cancer after being in carcinogenic smoke, and so firefighters regularly changed their kits, washed and had something to eat and drink during the incident.

‘Nationally, the fire service is, is being made aware of the fact that actually, it’s a really dangerous profession. We were always aware that it was a dangerous job but nationally more awareness is being made as to just how dangerous,’ said chief fire officer Jon Le Page.

‘We think that because we train so much and risk assess everything that we’re never going to be caught but that’s not necessarily the case.’

This was the first major fire in the island since the new guidelines came in, which added to the learning experience of the incident.