Evolution of our brave band of firefighters

Fire crews have always been there for us, but the years have seen many changes. David Behrens looks at the photographic evidence.

BRITAIN HAS always relied on its firefighters in times of emergency, but as today’s selection of rarely-seen pictures from the archive remind us, turning up at a blaze has not always been as simple as dialling 999.

Before the creation in 1941 of a single National Fire Service, there were as many as 1,600 brigades, operated by urban and rural councils. Alongside these sat the Auxiliary Fire Service, formed shortly before the Second World War as part of the civil defence effort.

But there was little standardisation of equipment between them. Not even the size of the hydrant valves could be guaranteed to match.

One of our pictures shows members of the auxiliary service in Leeds being instructed in the firemen’s lift. At the outset of war, some of these part-time firefighters worked six hour shifts after doing eight or nine hours at their regular jobs.

Lacking full training, they were also required to share the general station duties between them.

But the initiative served to illustrate the community spirit of the time, and the Gipton section of the auxiliary service went so far as to adopt two-year-old Brian Garnett as its mascot, kitting him out with a complete uniform, helmet, toy axe and miniature gum boots.

We had not seen the last of the Auxiliary Fire Service after its amalgamation into the national organisation. It re-emerged after the war as part of the country’s plans to respond to a nuclear attack and remained in existence until 1986. The Bedford “Green Goddess” fire engines with which it was equipped in the 1950s were in use as late as 1977, during the first strike by regular firefighters.

By that time, the number of brigades had been reduced to just one per county or borough, and training and equipment brought into line.

PICTURES: FOX PHOTOS/HULTON ARCHIVE/TOPICAL PRESS AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES. PICTURES: FOX PHOTOS/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES. COMMUNITY SPIRIT: From top to bottom, two-year-old ‘firefighter’ Brian Garnett, of Leeds, kitted out as mascot of the Gipton section of the Leeds Auxiliary Fire Service in 1939; a fireman and his bride at Wanstead, east London, after their marriage in 1928; firemen fighting a blaze in 1930 at a warehouse in Wapping, London; a London Fire Brigade vehicle prepares to attend a fire in March 1911. CALLED INTO ACTION: Instruction in the firemen’s lift for members of the Leeds Auxiliary Fire Service at Leeds on October 18, 1939, shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War.

PICTURE: FOX PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES. WARTIME RESPONSE: Auxiliary Fire Service firemen tackle a blitz fire amidst the rubble surrounding St Paul’s Cathedral, London.

ON PARADE: Crowds, top, watch the Auxiliary Fire Brigade pass by on their lorry, during a procession through Wakefield, in 1939, for a National Service recruiting campaign led by cricketer, Herbert Sutcliffe. Above, trainee firefighters of the Leeds Auxiliary Fire Service practice jumping into a blanket, November 1939.