The Rock Fire Station
It took me a few tries to get into this one. Way back in August last year I got my first taste of this place, as I crawled through an open window next to the main road - unfortunately, all it led to was a small toilet block with no access to the rest of the building. I returned in June to give it another go and, after a lot of waiting, I made it inside.
This is the third fire station to sit on the site; the first fire station was acquired sometime around 1875. A second station preceded the current building in 1925, incorporating parts of the previous station. In 1967, a new five-bay fire station and headquarters was opened on The Rock. The station was closed by Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service in 2012 and was replaced by a new Community Fire Station near to the Castlecroft Sidings.
My first visit in June didn't amount to much. I managed to make it inside one of the various outbuildings, where there was some rather interesting documents lying about...I spent a good amount of time leafing through them before searching the rest of the building for an access point, but to no avail.
My next visit proved to be more fruitful. The first room I made it into was the BA (breathing apparatus) room, but due to the nature of the equipment that was stored in there it was separated from the rest of the station by a solid wall. There were a few bits and bobs of interest to be found in here so I took a welcome break from the heat and grabbed a few shots.
I then made my way back towards the engine bay doors, stopping only to check the tower - for anyone who's interested, there's a ladder going straight to the top. Just watch out for the bloody pigeons, there's hundreds of them and they don't take kindly to you joining them up there!
Anyway. After much head-scratching and a bit of initiative on my part I found myself stood in a red-carpeted corridor, with a PIR in view on my left and a door on my right. I chose the door and it eventually brought me into the community room and then the CFS (central file storage?) room.
I carried on and came upon what looked to be the central hub for the station, as a noticeboard hung on one wall and multiple doors and corridors led off in all directions, including one into the engine bay and another into the main yard. However, along with all this sat a single obstacle: a tiny piece of plastic attached to the noticeboard marked ‘PIR 1‘. I chose not to brave the alarm and instead turned back the way I’d come, deciding that it'd be easier to pass the first PIR I'd seen.
I took a few tips from scotty here and proceeded to crawl underneath the infrared beam, feeling like a really shitty version of James Bond as I slowly shuffled towards the safety of the next room.
For one reason or another I chose not to carry on down the corridor, and instead went through to the next room, dodging a PIR I wouldn't have otherwise noticed in the process. The next room was the canteen and it was pretty bare, although there were a few cupboards in the corner and a grill in the kitchen with grease still dripping from the sides.
I continued on my merry way and, after a bit of ninja skills under a well-placed PIR, I was in the small section of the station that seemed to have been used for changing rooms & drying facilities. The first room I came across had decayed nicely and the metal frame made for some good pictures, whilst the second room had a more personal touch; names of ex-firemen were still stuck to the wall next to their assigned hooks.
I soon ended up in a section of the main area that was safely out of the range of ‘PIR 1‘; this led me to the corridor you see in the first picture of this post. The mural on the wall showed the firefighters of long-gone days, and finding this was certainly the highlight of this explore.
I then left the ‘private’ area of the fire station, and entered the area accessible to the general public (well, whilst the building was still in use). I slipped past yet another motion sensor and made my way into the duty officer’s room: this was where calls were managed, controlled and re-routed, along with issuing instructions to the rest of the station and preparing the fire engines to leave in as quick a time as possible.
From here it wasn't far to the relaxation room, where I found two blue reclining chairs and a copy of the Sun conveniently open on page 3...I'll leave that to your imagination. This was the closest room to the 'outside world' so I took a minute to sit back, relax, and watch the world go by. Poetic or what?
I made my way towards the original main entrance and grabbed a picture from the other side, before completely forgetting about the sneaky stairwell alarm…”YOUR PRESENCE HERE HAS BEEN REPORTED AND SECURITY ARE ON THEIR WAY. IF YOU HAVE PERMISSION TO BE HERE PLEASE PLACE YOUR KEYCARD ON THE ALARM CONTROL PANEL AND TURN IT OFF“
I didn’t have a keycard or permission to be there. I didn’t have a way out that wouldn’t result in me passing multiple other alarms as I ran to the other side of the building. I didn’t even have any means of escaping the building’s premises once I was out of the actual building – my initial thoughts were just “fuck it and run“. So I did.
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Back to real time. Myself and @Stitch2016 were passing the fire station on our way back from a local drain a few weeks after this explore. As we walked past the building Stitch spotted a security van parked inside the engine bay and decided to take a picture – we were quickly confronted by an angry security guard from Bury Council who started to rant about how we probably had “shitty jobs in McDonald’s and need to get real ones” and complained that Stitch had taken his photo. He mentioned the forum and we were then followed across Bury by almost every CCTV camera in sight. Fun!
Apologies for the pic-heavy report, this is by far the best derp in Bury and it wouldn't have felt right if I hadn't reported it in it's entirety! Cheers for reading this far.
It took me a few tries to get into this one. Way back in August last year I got my first taste of this place, as I crawled through an open window next to the main road - unfortunately, all it led to was a small toilet block with no access to the rest of the building. I returned in June to give it another go and, after a lot of waiting, I made it inside.
This is the third fire station to sit on the site; the first fire station was acquired sometime around 1875. A second station preceded the current building in 1925, incorporating parts of the previous station. In 1967, a new five-bay fire station and headquarters was opened on The Rock. The station was closed by Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service in 2012 and was replaced by a new Community Fire Station near to the Castlecroft Sidings.
My first visit in June didn't amount to much. I managed to make it inside one of the various outbuildings, where there was some rather interesting documents lying about...I spent a good amount of time leafing through them before searching the rest of the building for an access point, but to no avail.
My next visit proved to be more fruitful. The first room I made it into was the BA (breathing apparatus) room, but due to the nature of the equipment that was stored in there it was separated from the rest of the station by a solid wall. There were a few bits and bobs of interest to be found in here so I took a welcome break from the heat and grabbed a few shots.
I then made my way back towards the engine bay doors, stopping only to check the tower - for anyone who's interested, there's a ladder going straight to the top. Just watch out for the bloody pigeons, there's hundreds of them and they don't take kindly to you joining them up there!
Anyway. After much head-scratching and a bit of initiative on my part I found myself stood in a red-carpeted corridor, with a PIR in view on my left and a door on my right. I chose the door and it eventually brought me into the community room and then the CFS (central file storage?) room.
I carried on and came upon what looked to be the central hub for the station, as a noticeboard hung on one wall and multiple doors and corridors led off in all directions, including one into the engine bay and another into the main yard. However, along with all this sat a single obstacle: a tiny piece of plastic attached to the noticeboard marked ‘PIR 1‘. I chose not to brave the alarm and instead turned back the way I’d come, deciding that it'd be easier to pass the first PIR I'd seen.
I took a few tips from scotty here and proceeded to crawl underneath the infrared beam, feeling like a really shitty version of James Bond as I slowly shuffled towards the safety of the next room.
For one reason or another I chose not to carry on down the corridor, and instead went through to the next room, dodging a PIR I wouldn't have otherwise noticed in the process. The next room was the canteen and it was pretty bare, although there were a few cupboards in the corner and a grill in the kitchen with grease still dripping from the sides.
I continued on my merry way and, after a bit of ninja skills under a well-placed PIR, I was in the small section of the station that seemed to have been used for changing rooms & drying facilities. The first room I came across had decayed nicely and the metal frame made for some good pictures, whilst the second room had a more personal touch; names of ex-firemen were still stuck to the wall next to their assigned hooks.
I soon ended up in a section of the main area that was safely out of the range of ‘PIR 1‘; this led me to the corridor you see in the first picture of this post. The mural on the wall showed the firefighters of long-gone days, and finding this was certainly the highlight of this explore.
I then left the ‘private’ area of the fire station, and entered the area accessible to the general public (well, whilst the building was still in use). I slipped past yet another motion sensor and made my way into the duty officer’s room: this was where calls were managed, controlled and re-routed, along with issuing instructions to the rest of the station and preparing the fire engines to leave in as quick a time as possible.
From here it wasn't far to the relaxation room, where I found two blue reclining chairs and a copy of the Sun conveniently open on page 3...I'll leave that to your imagination. This was the closest room to the 'outside world' so I took a minute to sit back, relax, and watch the world go by. Poetic or what?
I made my way towards the original main entrance and grabbed a picture from the other side, before completely forgetting about the sneaky stairwell alarm…”YOUR PRESENCE HERE HAS BEEN REPORTED AND SECURITY ARE ON THEIR WAY. IF YOU HAVE PERMISSION TO BE HERE PLEASE PLACE YOUR KEYCARD ON THE ALARM CONTROL PANEL AND TURN IT OFF“
I didn’t have a keycard or permission to be there. I didn’t have a way out that wouldn’t result in me passing multiple other alarms as I ran to the other side of the building. I didn’t even have any means of escaping the building’s premises once I was out of the actual building – my initial thoughts were just “fuck it and run“. So I did.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back to real time. Myself and @Stitch2016 were passing the fire station on our way back from a local drain a few weeks after this explore. As we walked past the building Stitch spotted a security van parked inside the engine bay and decided to take a picture – we were quickly confronted by an angry security guard from Bury Council who started to rant about how we probably had “shitty jobs in McDonald’s and need to get real ones” and complained that Stitch had taken his photo. He mentioned the forum and we were then followed across Bury by almost every CCTV camera in sight. Fun!
Apologies for the pic-heavy report, this is by far the best derp in Bury and it wouldn't have felt right if I hadn't reported it in it's entirety! Cheers for reading this far.
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this has to be one of the best reports on here man! Hope we can meet up and have some more fun!
