Birmingham & Fazeley Canal Closed Today

[cuthound]

Notice Alert

Birmingham & Fazeley Canal
Location: Farmers locks to Aston Lock 1
Starts At: Farmers Bridge Lock 1, Top Lock
Ends At: Lock 1, Aston Top Lock
Up Stream Winding Hole: Cambrian wharf
Down Stream Winding Hole: Aston Junction

Sunday 7 August 2022 10:15 until further notice

Type: Navigation Closure
Reason: Information

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Original message:

 

Due to a fire in the area the canal and towpath are closed.

We will advise further once we know anything further.

 

You can view this notice and its map online here:
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notice/22999/farmers-locks-to-aston-lock-1

You can find all notices at the url below:
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices

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[Tracy D'arth]

So is this vandalism or boater damage?  Or yet another excuse for C&RT to close a canal?

?

[Rob-M]

4 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

So is this vandalism or boater damage?  Or yet another excuse for C&RT to close a canal?

?

Given the Birmingham fire brigade have asked public to avoid the area it sounds like a sensible precaution to me.

[ditchcrawler]

Not the best place to have a fire,

Edited August 7, 2022 by ditchcrawler

[Rob-M]

5 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Not the best place to have a fire, do we know where it is?

Internet reports derelict warehouse on Princip Street which looks like it runs parallel to Farmers Bridge.

 

Having checked the map again it is between the bottom lock and Aston junction.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Rob-M
Correct location.

[Heartland]

According to the local press it is a factory fire in Princip Street which is beside the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal. The fire started before 7 this morning.

 

This area is part of the Birmingham Gun Quarter and some canalside premises were once involved in that trade

Local roads are closed as fire fighters battle with the fire

 

 

[Tracy D'arth]

I bet they are pinching our precious water.

[Rob-M]

Just now, Tracy D'arth said:

I bet they are pinching our precious water.

At a lock the other day a boater told me that happened a couple of weeks ago in Middlewich, the fire brigade pumped water from above King's Lock to fight a fire and significantly dropped the level.

[Tracy D'arth]

That was a waste chemical fire I was told. lots of black smoke.

Do the fire brigades have extraction licences?

They must have pumped a heck of a lot of water, the pound back to Rumps lock is long.

Can C&RT blame them for the water shortage on the Cheshire Locks?

[Clanky]

3 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

That was a waste chemical fire I was told. lots of black smoke.

Do the fire brigades have extraction licences?

They must have pumped a heck of a lot of water, the pound back to Rumps lock is long.

Can C&RT blame them for the water shortage on the Cheshire Locks?

They don’t need an extraction licence under the fire & rescue services act 2004 part 5

 

 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

12 hours ago, Clanky said:

They don’t need an extraction licence under the fire & rescue services act 2004 part 5

 

 

A lot of canal bridges in Brum have small red doors built in to the parapets to help the fire brigade lower hoses in to the canal to get the water they need. Very useful when the Luftwaffe made a concerted effort to burn the city down. Caused me a lot of head scratching when I first saw them and didn't know what they were for! This thread explains, though it starts off about the Coventry Canal bridge stop plank storage holes, which also caused me a lot of head scratching!

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by Jen-in-Wellies

[magpie patrick]

17 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

I bet they are pinching our precious water.

 

Have you anything useful to say on this topic? 

[frangar]

CRT west mid have said on Twitter last night it’s been reopened although the stoppage notice is still on. Hopefully that will be sorted this morning when people are back in the office.  

[frangar]

And there you go!

 

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices/22999-farmers-locks-to-aston-lock-1

 

Open again. 

[Tracy D'arth]

56 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

 

Have you anything useful to say on this topic? 

I'm sorry, that is a very rude comment.  

 

Perhaps I should have studded by post with lots of smileys.

 

 

 

 

This post is not rude, nor offensive. It also contains no humour.

[billS]

There seems to be a sense of humour failure on the part of some posters, and unusually there days, even a moderator. No one has died.

 

If usefulness is a requirement for posts to escape criticism, then posts will be somewhat sparse.

 

 

[Heartland]

The use of doors in bridges on Birmingham Canals was important to save property damaged by fire resulting from enemy bombing in the war. As noted from a previous post the fire at Kappa had fire crews drawing water from the Grand Union where the bridge design enabled the threading of the fire hoses through to the water.

 

So Tracy did make a valid point. There used to be fire doors in the old Lancaster Street Bridge, I seem to recall and in the past ,also I remember, an iron urinal to one side of the bridge (which used street sewers, NOT the cut as an outfall). But then the road was widened for the A34 improvements. It would be of interest to see where the water came from to put out the Princip Street fire.