Regarding the 1982 fire at the embassy, normally the MOD would have caught it before it got out of hand, but we had people going to the airport that night, and the MOD was required to track their progress until they arrived.  By the time he got to take a tour of the bldg it was beyond a fire extinguisher.  Besides none of them worked anyway, nor did the smoke detectors, or hose stations, or the sprinkler system. (I think we had them).

The level of damage on this venue, but it was significant.  I think the cause was chalked up to an over heated A/C-D/C transformer in the supply room. Yes, the room with all the paper in it!

I remember escorting the fire fighters, that was interesting.  When their boots filled with water, they would throw them out of a broken window.  A lot of their equipment didn't work and their hoses leaked like yard sprinklers.  We had a Marine Corps Flag hanging in Post 2, that I "rescued" when we took our weapons out.  I still have it.  Nothing special, just one of those small wall flags.  It was never endanger of burning though.  Just didn't want the fire fighters grabing  it if they had to work that area.  They didn't.  The fire stayed on the 2nd and 3rd floors.  As far as I know the fire fighters didn't try to take anything at all.

The building was some kind of modular design and was made of material that was fire retardent.  I think it was a prototype.  It did its job containing the fire for the most part.

 I think overall the Marines did a good job that night.  Not only did we escort the fire fighters, we helped fight the fire.  I hope this is something that they train more at.

Ironically the embassy is maybe 100 yds from the Lagos Lagoon, which is fed by the Atlantic Ocean, but the fire dept's equipment was so broken that we couldn't get water to the fire.  They would bring it in truck at a time from somewhere, pump it for a couple minutes then go get some more.  I think every Marine was at the working end of the hose at least once when it ran out of water.  It is a weird feeling when that happens.

 It was a long night, followed by a bunch more.  The one good thing that came out of it was a new Marine House.  The original house was a piece of crap by the Falamo Shopping Center.  After the fire they increased the size of the Det for a while during re-construction, so they got us a new house out on Victoria Island.

Anonymous - I do not know if I have submitted this story before but I would feel remiss if I did not pass it along. 

The time frame was 1967, the place was Lagos, Nigeria and the setting was the Biafran War either coming, during or just after.  One day I came out of the front door of the Embassy and saw the military attache standing off to the side of the entry driveway.  My car was parked near there but I noticed that the front, decorative gate was closed.  Standing in the center of the drive was a single Marine named Jim Jewel.  He was in uniform looking smart but it was a surprise as this was a civil dress post and the guards did not even step outside when on duty.  I asked the attache what was up and he informed me that they had information that a mob of 2,000 was moving from downtown to protest something.  I looked more carefully at the Marine and noted that he was standing at parade rest and had a short billy club in his hands at his back.  I approached and asked, "Jim, what are you doing?"  He replied from the side of his mouth, "SHOW OF FORCE."   That said everything.