Essex Fire Museum EFM Information File No 2

Essex County Fire Brigade, The Early Years

The Essex County Fire Brigade (ECFB) was formed in April 1948 when the National Fire Service (NFS) was disbanded. As part of the Act of Parliament which enabled the formation of the NFS in 1941, an agreement was made that at a suitable time, when the hostilities of the Second World War had ceased, fire brigades in the United Kingdom would be returned to local government control. Although this did occur, it was decided to hand the brigades back to county and county borough levels of government only. Previously boroughs, urban districts and rural districts as well as some parishes ran their own fire brigades. Before 1941 there were 1,668 fire brigades in the UK. In 1948 157 brigades were established.In Essex the sixty plus brigades of the pre war period were incorporated, via the NFS, into one large county wide brigade. The boundaries of this brigade stretched from Walthamstow in the London Metropolitan area to the borders of Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. Southend, a county borough in its own right, was permitted to run its own fire brigade. The organisation of the Essex County Fire Brigade settled on 6 Divisions with Brigade Headquarters based at Hutton, near Brentwood. With a nucleus of whole-time manned stations in the major towns, the majority of the stations in the brigade were manned on a part-time retained basis. The equipment and premises inherited by the ECFB were varied to say the least. Many pre war appliances were still in service, although some were very ‘tired’ indeed. Dozens of wartime vehicles from the NFS were handed over to the brigade, but most of these had been designed to last only a few years and were not particularly well suited to the needs of the county’s brigade. This situation was only alleviated by the sterling efforts of the brigade’s workshops, whose personnel worked hard to modify and update the vehicles.

A hard worked Austin K4 ‘Pump Escape’ based at Leytonstone circa 1950. This was one of the first ex-wartime appliances to be replaced by a modern Limousine. Note the ‘bolt on’ front mounted Barton pump.

New appliances were only available to fire brigades by application to the Home Office, who allocated them on a strictly applied basis which included consideration of wartime

losses and the age of the appliances to be replaced. The first of these appliances to be obtained by the ECFB were issued to the Metropolitan ‘C’ Division of the Brigade and were of the Dennis F7 Limousine type.

One of the first new appliances, issued to the ECFB via the Home Office in 1950, was this Dennis F7 ‘Limousine’ Pump Escape. (Seen post-1965 after its transfer to the London Fire Brigade.) Photo courtesy of the London Fire Brigade.

In many ways the County’s fire stations were in an even worse state than the appliances. The pre-war purpose-built stations varied from Victorian stations like Grays, originally built to house horse drawn appliances, to large, modern (for their time) stations such as Colchester, Barking and Dagenham, all of which were built in the late 1930s.

Built in 1893 to house horse-drawn fire appliances, Grays fire station was one of the first of the old pre war stations to be replaced by a large, multi appliance station.

Away from the major towns in the more rural parts of Essex former wartime fire stations consisted of little more than sheds just large enough to get a small vehicle in.

Grays Fire Station 1954. A modern replacement for the original Victorian station, with capacity to house five appliances. It also provided office space for the Divisional Headquarters of the Brigade’s B Division.

As soon as financial resources were available a building replacement programme was initiated. This particularly concentrated on the whole time stations, many of which could not accommodate the necessary special appliances used by the Brigade. The two ‘new towns’ of Harlow and Basildon, built to re-house families from war ravaged East London, required major new whole time fire stations.The numerous retained stations, many of which were barely adequate for purpose, were way down on the replacement list and had to soldier on, some into the 1980s, before their renewal. This in turn created major problems when new fire appliances were purchased, resulting in some very unusual modifications to lower ladder stowage and remove all lights and bells from roofs!

Typical of the ex-wartime Retained fire stations in the 1950s, Tiptree, as seen in 1958. Note the large ‘pole mounted’ siren, used to summon the part time firefighters during daylight hours. At night call bells were sounded in the crew’s homes. Their new Dodge Water tender must have been a very tight fit in the station.

The Brigade’s manpower was severely depleted because of the stand down of the NFS and the introduction of a ‘two shift’ system which created a need for more whole time fire-fighters. Recruiting was mainly from de-mobbed armed forces personnel, as there were thousands of ex-service men looking for the comradeship they had enjoyed during the war years. This resulted in a smart, efficient and well disciplined Fire Brigade. Uniforms were still based on the Victorian fire tunic, worn with a ‘cherry red’ steel helmet (unique to Essex) and leather fire boots and waterproof leggings. A webbing belt with axe and pouch was also worn. As soon as production was available, the steel helmets were exchanged for what was to become the traditional black cork, high comb, fire helmet. Webbing belts and axe pouches were soon replaced by high quality leather ones.

Essex firemen parading for the first Annual Review of the Brigade in 1949. They are wearing cherry red steel helmets. Senior officers wore white helmets, as can be seen with the Divisional Officer in charge of the parade. (A cherry red helmet can be seen in the Essex Fire Museum).

Operationally the Brigade dealt with fires and other incidents which covered the whole spectrum of fire service possibilities. From oil refinery and ship fires in the Thameside area, major building fires in the Metropolitan division, to hay stack and barn fires in the rural areas. Developments in ‘special service’ equipment were made when the increase of motor car use began to cause an increase in motor vehicle crashes. Many stations had to utilise very basic tools for rescue purposes. Crowbars, hacksaws and cold chisels were the best they had until the introduction of ‘Porto Power’ hydraulic jacking equipment in the very late 1950s and early 1960s. A fully equipped ‘Emergency Tender’ (E.T.) based at Grays was in heavy demand at such incidents and was the forerunner of the modern ‘Rescue Tender’.

This former Civil Defence Bedford Rescue Lorry from the mid 1940s provided the ideal basis for the Brigade’s Emergency Tender based at Grays until the late 1950s. Cutting lifting and jacking equipment was carried as well as extra breathing apparatus.

The vehicle replacement programme was well underway in the mid fifties with many new types coming into service. In particular Dodge and Commer appliances proved to be economical to purchase and effective in service and many were to be seen in the County. These however, did not oust the famous wartime Auxiliary Towing Vehicle (ATV) and trailer pump combination, many of which remained in service at retained stations until the 1960s.

Station 50 Hatfield Peveral’s ATV and trailer pump attending a major fire in Barking in the early 1960s. The ladder stowage has been modified to enable it to fit into its home station’s low entrance. The vehicle behind is Brentwood’s (Stn 17) Dennis F26 Pump, 191 NPU.

Eventually the retained stations were to receive modern Dodge appliances, which were suitable for the smaller rural stations. Their large 300 gallon water tanks were a vast improvement over the old ATVs tiny tank and their onboard pumps resolved all the problems associated with towing trailer pumps.

The retained crew from Station 71 Braintree turning out on their 1950 Dodge/Arlington Pump.

A 1953 classic fire appliance, this Commer/Carmichael was one of many such vehicles in the ECFB. It served at Station 62 Loughton.

The larger Commer appliances were issued to whole time stations, mostly outside the Metropolitan area, several of which were still operating ex-wartime Austins and Fordsons.

As the 1950s drew to a close, the Essex County Fire Brigade, in common with the rest of the United Kingdom’s fire services, stood on the verge of an exciting era when massive changes were to commence, affecting all aspects of the service. New equipment, new stations, new vehicles and a new shift system were all to have a major impact on the future of the Brigade.

M.Beale