Brave men and women who fought the fires

Writer ON October 6, 1854, an earthshaking explosion followed by an all-consuming fire decimated both sides of the River Tyne’s Quayside at Newcastle and Gateshead.

So huge was the blast which preceded the blaze, it was heard as far away as Hartlepool, while people in North and South Shields thought it might be an earthquake.

The inferno began when a ticking time bomb of hundreds of tons of explosive material detonated in a Gateshead warehouse, sending fireballs of sulphur, brimstone, stones and metal across the river into the heavily populated alleys and tenements of Newcastle Quayside.

Fifty-three people lost their lives and a swathe of medieval buildings, which today would have made up a listed, historic riverfront, were destroyed.

There were a dozen privately-owned fire engines in Newcastle at the time.

However, it was later pointed out that although the population in the town was nearing 100,000, not one piece of apparatus was available for rescuing people from the upper stories of the buildings.

The disaster was the catalyst for the formation of organised fire services in both Gateshead and Newcastle.

Now, nearly 165 years after the devastating incident, the North of our region is served by Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, formerly Tyne and Wear Metropolitan Fire Brigade.

Established in 1974, it brought together four former smaller brigades and parts of two other brigades – Durham County, Northumberland County, Newcastle and Gateshead, Sunderland, South Shields and Tynemouth.

Employing around 1,150 staff, it has 17 stations catering for more than one million people.

Meanwhile, Cleveland Fire Brigade employs around 600 staff, and operates 14 fire stations, eight of which are crewed night and day.

Our archive picture selection is a tribute to the brave men and women who have been on call over the decades to protect us from the perils of fire and other accidents.

Enjoy our selection of photographs from the Sunday Sun archive showing firefighters from Victorian, wartime and more modern times.

We salute them all.

Above, Binns store on Fawcett Street, Sunderland, was destroyed in a World War II air raid on April 10, 1941. Firemen were still at work the day after the raid; left, a turntable ladder of Durham County Fire Brigade in operation, 1970s

■ The aftermath of the devastating great fire of Gateshead and Newcastle, October 1854

■ Firemen tackling a blaze at Callers furniture store, Northumberland Street, Newcastle, December 1, 1969

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