Liam Alford

History of the Fire Service

The earliest form of the fire service dates back to AD43, back then, the way they thought fires was reported to have been buckets of water or the use of syringes by squirting the water onto the fire. After the Romans left, the fire service decreased in standards and communities fell into decline. Throughout the Middle Ages, many villages and towns burnt down due to the lack of fire men and ineffective fire fighting arrangement, also, most buildings were built from wood. Following some spectacular losses, some parishes organised basic fire fighting, but no regulations or standards were in force. The Great Fire of London, in 1666, changed things and helped to increase the standards of urban fire fighting. After this famous fire, the public demanded for safer fire fighting, a man named Nicholas Barbon introduced the first Fire Brigade which helped protect buildings until the early 1800s, this was then a turning point in Fire service, more companies followed what Nicholas Barbon had done and other Fire brigades were created and buildings had to have a badge of what fire brigade they wanted to support and put out any fires if any had occurred. In 1824, The London Fire Engine Establishment was founded, which was created by other companies merging together, James Braidwood was the chief of the Fire Brigade team, he had moved from Edinburgh where he was chief officer of the first properly organised Fire Brigade. A major change in the way fires were fought came into being in the mid 1850s when the first reliable steam powered appliances were adopted by brigades. These appliances replaced the manual engines and allowed a far great quantity of water to be to be directed onto a fire. These steam engines which were introduced in the 1850s would only last just over 50 years when the new internal combustion engine was created, this helped provide a larger water pump. Whilst The London Fire Engine Establishment employed fire men full time and covered all of London, other areas in the country has volunteer personnel and town fire brigades. Before 1938, there were around 1450 fire Brigades set up around the country, this now being over 1600 in 2012. During the wars, fire brigades were stopped but were then returned after under the Fire Services Act 1947, st this was introduced on the 1 April 1948. Fire Brigades were restored back to the local authorities. When 1974/75 came around, the number of brigades national dropped due to companies merging to add more man power and equipment. The Fire Service Act 1947 was updated again in 2004, allowing Fire Brigades to escape from control of local authorities and work independently.

These were the3 legislations throughout the times of the Fire Service; 1938: Fire Brigades Act 1938. This Act (which is no longer in force) provided for centralised co-ordination of fire brigades in
Great Britain and made it mandatory for local authorities to arrange an effective fire service. 1959: Fire Services Act 1947 (amended 1959), this was replaced in England and Wales by the 2004 legislation. 1999: Greater London Authority Act 1999 This act was necessary to allow for the formation of the Greater London Authority and in turn the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority.