The original Great Fire started in a baker’s shop inPudding Lane in London and destroyed most of the City.The latest fire to hit Bisley and Pirbright also startedinnocently enough, with a picnic fire lit by some childrenon West End Common, and could well have destroyedmuch of Pirbright and Bisley Ranges. In the event acombination of skilled firefighting, dedication on the partof all staff and sheer good luck resulted in minimaldamage to our facilities.The first hint of trouble came over the radio beforelunchtime on Maundy Thursday when the potentiallyominous words “There’s a fire behind Long Siberia”were overheard. An initial inspection from StickledownRange showed a large pall of smoke well behind therange, and off to the right. It was noted, however, thatthe prevailing wind was from right to left which wouldbring the fire towards the range complex so it wasdecided that a close watch should be kept on the fire tosee how it developed.Things developed very quickly and we learned that thefire was advancing rapidly, helped by the strong wind,in a line parallel to Red Road. This was threatening thehouses along the north side of this road, and the roadwas closed by fire crews for safety reasons. At this timethe fire appeared to be about a kilometre behindStickledown butts and was continuing to move towardsthe west, so the ranges did not seem to be in anyimmediate danger.An interesting development occurred shortly afterwardswhen the Range Office received a call from the Armysaying that there were a large number of “blind” (iepreviously unexploded) mortar bombs and other piecesof ordnance which were now exploding in the intenseheat of the fire. Since the blast area of a mortar bomb isin the region of 5,000 square metres, and since there wasdanger of other pieces of ordnance being blown ontothe range areas, they suggested that all firing shouldcease and all firers be withdrawn from the ranges.THE GREAT FIRE OF <strong>2003</strong>by Martin Farnanroads for the fire to reach them. There did not appear tobe an immediate threat to the ranges, however, and nofire tenders or firefighters had yet appeared in Camp.An inspection at 07:00 on Good Friday by <strong>NRA</strong> andPirbright staff showed that the fire had been stopped atChobham Ridges, but was continuing to burn in an arctowards Pirbright Ranges. Despite the fact that the windwas still blowing from the east the fire now appeared tobe burning backwards against the wind, and was finallyadvancing towards Bisley Ranges. Being Good Fridayall the ranges were closed. Since the main threatappeared to be to Stickledown, contingency plans wereput in place to reschedule the long range events overthe Easter weekend.The first fire officers arrived at Bisley at about 08:30 andinspected the whole area from Stickledown stop butt.Divisional Fire Chiefs were briefed on which areas hadbeen cleared of unexploded ordnance and where it wassafe to move. The fire was advancing slowly towardsStickledown, but again could not be fought in the RangeDanger Area. Two fire tenders appeared mid-morningand were positioned in Stickledown butts. It wasextremely frustrating watching the fire as it slowlyadvanced, knowing that there was nothing that couldbe done except wait for it to arrive.The fire finally reached Stickledown butts aboutlunchtime and the gorse bushes, tinder dry, caughtreadily. The firefighters were ready, however, and wereable to contain most of this fire. A couple of the numberboards were scorched but no real damage was done. Thefire, meanwhile, continued round the left side ofStickledown and continued towards Pirbright. The realdanger was that the fire would go round to the right ofStickledown and into Cottesloe Heath, the BisleyShooting Ground (BSG) sporting clay complex, and onto Century and Short Siberia. With advice from <strong>NRA</strong>,NSC and BSG staff the fire teams were able to checkroutes and make contingency plans.For the first time in many years the Emergency CeaseFire was sounded, and a tannoy message calling all firersinto Camp was broadcast. Some were slower to movethan others; one group on Short Siberia, which wasnearest to the fire, delaying by some ten minutes beforebeing moved on in ten seconds by Big Jim! It was clearthat the fire was now a very serious one indeed forhousing along Red Road and Chobham Ridges, andreports were that up to twenty fire engines were engagedin fighting it.When darkness fell the fire front could be seen stretchingfrom east to west in a line some three miles wide, andslowly advancing up towards Chobham Ridges. In viewof the danger of exploding ordnance, the fire teams werenot able to go out into the danger area to fight the firebut had to wait along the edges of the cleared areas andBy late afternoon flames were seen advancing towardsCottesloe Heath, but again no move could be made outinto the Range Danger Area. The fire was also advancinginto Pirbright Ranges, and their clay ranges were underthreat. The Deepcut Officers Mess was evacuated as aprecautionary measure. With <strong>NRA</strong> and NSC assistancethe BSG staff started moving their traps and otherequipment out of the Cottesloe Heath area, “just in case”.With the large amount of water being used resupply wasa potential problem, but the emergency water tank bythe <strong>NRA</strong> Office, with a capacity of some 300,000 litres,was used for the first time in living memory (except forBig Jim, who has worked for the <strong>NRA</strong> for some 40 years!).The pump used to refill the fire tenders had animpressive performance (1,600 litres per minute); itrefilled a tender in 75 seconds and a water bowser in52
Good Friday during the day.(Photo: Mark Cavey)Evening approaches and the fire threatens Stickledown.(Photo: Mark Cavey)About 01:00 Saturday morning. (Photo: Carol Beecher) Afterwards. (Photo: Chris Wall)53
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