Boat on fire, North Oxford canal.

[Southern Star]

About half a mile east of Sutton Stop, we've phoned 999

 

[Starcoaster]

Christ that looks bad. I really hope no one was on it.

[nicknorman]

It's not the best area, let's hope it wasn't arson.

[Southern Star]

A terrible sight, the superstructure completely disappeared within four minutes. Doesn't appear to have been anybody aboard, thank God.

 

[Athy]

Bloody Ada. That first picture is dramatic to say the least. Thank goodness that it appears that no one was on board.

 

I guess that it must have been a wooden superstructure, for it to have been consumed so rapidly.

[RLWP]

Bloody Ada. That first picture is dramatic to say the least. Thank goodness that it appears that no one was on board.

 

I guess that it must have been a wooden superstructure, for it to have been consumed so rapidly.

More likely it was GRP.

 

Richard

[Southern Star]

Another, slightly less blurred image.

 

[RLWP]

About half a mile east of Sutton Stop, we've phoned 999

 

 

OFF-TOPIC how did you get on with calling 999? On the couple of occasions we have called the police, it's been hard to communicate where on the canal we were

 

Richard

[churchward]

Oh dear what a sight! I bet that made the heart race when you saw that.

 

Although it of course has destroyed the top not being steel it would not have made much difference to the contents being destroyed if it was. It is good that there is no one hurt but I pity the person coming back to that and seeing their home gone.if they are a liveaboard.

[yellowpages]

A boat on fire reported last night on the Coventry canal, 11.50 pm. Hopefully not connected

[Paul C]

OFF-TOPIC how did you get on with calling 999? On the couple of occasions we have called the police, it's been hard to communicate where on the canal we were

 

Richard

 

When we came across a fire on the BCN Main line I gave the two bridges which the section of canal was between, and looked on the map to give the 2 road names too (I think they might have been the same anyway, what with BCN having named bridges instead of numbers). Of course, the fire brigade arbitarily chose a bridge, and it was the longer walk....and they turned up with no firefighting equipment either.

[mark99]

It is quite sobering.

 

We saw this one. The people were putting themselves at risk as there was a gas bottle on board.

 

The boat took about 1/2 hour to be consumed then sank.

 

 

[Southern Star]

OFF-TOPIC how did you get on with calling 999? On the couple of occasions we have called the police, it's been hard to communicate where on the canal we were

 

Richard

We were a bit vague, we said half a mile east of Hawkesbury Junction and opposite the electrical substation. You could see the smoke a long way away though so that must have helped them.

[paulstoke1975]

the poor owners, hopefully they aren't liveaboards ,

 

it would be bad enough losing a boat never mind your home in the process too.

[ditchcrawler]

I called the fire service on the GT Ouse and had no problem

[Dave_P]

My understanding is that if you dial 112 instead of 999, they can triangulate your phone location.

[FadeToScarlet]

We called the fire service to what we thought was a possible gas leak from a fallen pipe off a bridge, but was actually a 25,000 volt cable arcing and earthing itself.

 

It took them at least an hour for the fire service to work out where we were and get to us- even though we knew the 19th century name for the Rushall flight (Ganseys) which they used to refer to it!

 

Edit- in hindsight, having an OS map app on the phone, so you can give a proper 8 figure grid reference, might've been handy.

[RLWP]

My understanding is that if you dial 112 instead of 999, they can triangulate your phone location.

 

 

 

In the UK, 999 and 112 do the same thing, namely connect you to the emergency services. Neither number has priority over the other, and neither number provides location information better than the other. They are the same.

 

http://www.mountainsafety.co.uk/EP-999-or-112-Which-is-Best-aspx

 

Richard

[Graham Davis]

My understanding is that if you dial 112 instead of 999, they can triangulate your phone location.

 

112 and 999 take you through exactly the same system to exactly the same place, using both mobile and land line phones.

[Jonny P]

It's not the best area, let's hope it wasn't arson.

An area full of old boating families. Dodgy characters aren't they Nick?

[RLWP]

An area full of old boating families. Dodgy characters aren't they Nick?

 

That's a pretty large generalisation. North Coventry isn't all old boating families

 

Richard

[Jonny P]

That's a pretty large generalisation. North Coventry isn't all old boating families

 

Richard

In truth Richard there aren't actually many houses near this spot (unless they have sprung up recently). It's still a bit of a wasteland from the days of the power station. The area around Sutton Stop was full of boating families but I suspect things have moved on a lot since carrying ended and there have of course been many new houses built west of the junction. That area really was a bit separate even from Longford let alone the rest of north Coventry.

 

Jon

[RLWP]

I'm not exactly sure where it is - near to Alderman's Green I'd have thought

 

Richard

[Jonny P]

I'm not exactly sure where it is - near to Alderman's Green I'd have thought

 

Richard

Yes. Between Sutton Stop and Tusses Bridge I think.

 

Jon

[johnmck]

A chap on Narrow boat users group has posted that his boat was broken into today, near bridge 81. Coincidence?

 

Edit to say, on the North Oxford

Edited February 13, 2016 by johnmck