A brief history of fire fighting in the UK
The history of organised firefighting dates back to the beginnings of civilization, when hand pumps are believed to have been used by the ancient Egyptians. The Romans also created their own fire brigade, which was reputed to have a nominal strength of 500 men. Despite their efforts, a massive blaze in AD 64 saw two-thirds of Rome reduced to ashes.
Firefighting in the rest of Western Europe remained fairly rudimentary, until the 17th century. Despite the formation of night watches large cities like Paris suffered from several large infernos, and London had to endure the Great Fire of 1666. Following this disaster, insurance companies formed private fire brigades to protect their clients’ property using fire marks to identify the insured buildings.
The most significant breakthrough in firefighting was the development of the first fire engines. These continued to favour hand pumps, and had a very limited range due to the lack of hoses. These were eventually invented in 1672, by Dutchman Jan Van der Heyden. Made out of flexible leather they were coupled every 50 feet using brass fittings, and this length is still the standard used in mainland Europe.
By contrast British hoses were only half this size, and by the mid-eighteenth century manual pumps on hand carts manned by teams of men could deliver a maximum of 160 gpm ( gallons per minute) to a range of 120 ft. Improvements in technology and methods continued to gather pace, and in 1824 James Braidwood founded the world’s first municipal fire service based in Edinburgh.
Despite his achievements, the organisation of firefighting capabilities was still sketchy. The majority were either volunteer or town units, and by 1938 there was estimated to be up to 1500 small municipal fire brigades in the UK, run by local councils. During the intervening years the standard of equipment had also improved, including the introduction of steam powered equipment and motorised appliances.
The Second World War turned out to be a watershed in firefighting capability, mainly due to the experience and lessons gained from the Blitz. As the bombs rained down from Germany’s Luftwaffe, these traumatic years were an important milestone in the development of the UK’S firefighting services, bringing much needed organisational reform, standardisation, and further improvements in equipment and techniques.
In August 1941 the National Fire Service (NFS) was formed, and Britain was divided into 11 regions made up of 33 fire areas each supervised by its own commander. The chief commander based in London had overall control and the capital’s brigade alone dealt with over 50,000 separate incidents. Sadly this was also a period of great sacrifice and many firefighters were killed in action.
The government recognised the need for a standardised fire service throughout the UK, and in 1947 introduced the Fire Services Act. Control was returned to local authorities and following a regional reorganisation in 1975 the Strathclyde Fire Brigade was formed. The brigade was renamed Strathclyde Fire & Rescue in 2005. Further reorganisation took place on the April 1, 2013 when Strathclyde Fire & Rescue, along with the other seven fire and rescue services across Scotland, was amalgamated into the new Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. The Organisation has its headquarters in Perth.