‘In 1974 came an urgent warning that the Easter holiday may bring with it a fire risk’
IN August 1941, in the wake of
Nazi germany’s intense bombing campaign on these shores, the fire service was nationalised.
The National Fire Service consisted of volunteer firemen, paid a ten shillings’ annual “retainer” (50 pence, or about £35 today), plus 1 shilling (5p or £3.50 today) for every length of hose used to fight a fire. That shilling was shared out between the firemen.
During the Second World War, Rugeley firemen helped during the Coventry blitz and also helped at Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Birkenhead, while the worst local disaster was when a land mine exploded in a field near Trent Valley Station, damaging houses nearby.
After the war Staffordshire took over local fire brigades, and the Auxiliary Fire Service (created in 1938 as a part of the Civil Defence Corps) remained in place until 1966. Stafford and Rugeley firemen were called to the Hixon train disaster in January 1968 when an express train hit a loader lorry on Hixon level crossing.
Before April 1, 1974, the area of the new Staffordshire County Council included three autonomous fire authorities - Staffordshire County Council, the City of Stoke-on-Trent and Burton upon Trent County Borough.
These fire authorities were formed by an Act of Parliament in 1947, and after the disbandment of the wartime National Fire Service in 1948, every authority provided its own fire brigade.
Under the Local Government
Act 1972, the three brigades were combined into one unit under the new county council.
The integration on April 1,
1974 of the three services across Staffordshire saw David Blacktop appointed Chief Fire Officer for the county.
The new fire brigade provided a network of 30 fire stations organised into two divisions.
There were two Divisional Officers, one at Bethesda Street, Hanley (Northern division), and another at Lammascote Road, Stafford (Southern division).
The divisions were controlled from the brigade headquarters at Pirehill House, Aston, near Stone. The location of fire stations and the systems of duty were designed to give satisfactory fire cover that met Home Office standards.
As the force expanded the headquarters at Aston advertised in June 1974 for trainee control operators at the Stafford station, with annual wages starting at £1,032 a year aged 16 and £1,254 at aged 19 (rising to £1,581 upon completing the training). Stations were referred to by the type of duty which the firemen performed.
These duties were broadly summarised as follows: Wholetime stations. The principal stations were manned continuously by ‘wholetime’ men on a three-shift duty system. Wholetime day-manned stations were staffed by wholetime men on duty at the station during the day and on a rota basis, and could respond from home at night.
For this purpose, the authority built houses next to the stations.
Nucleus stations. The larger retained, or part-time, stations had wholetime firemen working during the day, who formed a nucleus of fire engines manned by retained firemen.
Retained stations. These stations were manned by people who responded from their homes or from work when a fire broke out.
Applications from men aged between 18 and 30 were accepted, subject to successful completion of the required educational and medical examinations.
The brigade also operated a junior fireman scheme, under which selected young men joined at 16 for two years training before becoming fully operational firemen at the minimum joining age of 18.
The fire service term for a fire engine is an appliance and in 1974 as the new county system came
The divisions were controlled from the brigade headquarters at Pirehill House, Aston, near Stone