Eco engines?
I remember the serving Cosham fire station in Wayte Street opening in 1952 with two new engines. It will be good to see the new ‘state-of-the-art’ station on London Road become operational (The News, April 15).
Interesting, will be, to see how easily the vehicles meet the traffic - and how long it will be before heavy electric trucks are stationed there.
The new station will have a gym, better training facilities and good working and living quarters. I expected, in light of their 2021 experience, a forpurpose Covid-19 public vaccination room ( just a thought!).
Also, no doubt, it will be better for public visits and classes as the present station, I recall , suffers 24/7 traffic noise.
And now Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue stations are officially going wildlife and wild flower-friendly (The News, May 11) with bird boxes, feeders and verge habitats for insects. That's good; some county stations, mainly rural, have long maintained, their own floral displays.
The current Wayte Street station was built for the 1948 denationalised Portsmouth City Fire Brigade and what we see today is not much changed from that. However, the brick training tower was rebuilt midlife ostensibly to give more window openings and the red ‘up and over’ engine house doors long ago replaced the traditional ‘crash open’ folding type. The solar panels are recent.
Finally, to the oldest station in the HIWFRS - that in ‘historic Emsworth’. Dating from 1900 this always-shared municipal building (now with the town's museum) is interesting and is most likely the oldest still-operating fire station in the country, claimed, before closure, by Clerkenwell in London.
I only remember one problem at Emsworth: in the 1980s the then Hampshire Fire Brigade procured Dennis pump water tenders. Having to reverse in from the road a smaller version had to be got to fit the novel sliding doors which were first used by a horse-drawn steamer!
Good luck to the new Cosham fire station and may all their fires be little ones.
Bonfire of Brussels’ regulations can't come too soon