No records are available to identify what happened when a fire was discovered prior to 1897 or indeed prior to 1902, but it is clear from the Minutes of the General Meeting of the Brigade on the18th November 1902 that prior to the dedicated fire station in Church Street coming into use in 1906, the bell mounted on the front of St. Mary's Church steeple was to be tolled by the Church Sexton. At the same meeting it was agreed that Mr. Peter Taylor should send a Messenger on horseback to each of the firemen's residences. Although nothing has been established in writing it is generally understood that the fire engine, as well as the horses, were 'stabled' at the King William IV public house in Vantorts Road. The fire engine was undoubtedly a 'Manual Pump', but more of that on the Fire Engines page. Back on the 13th January 1902 the A.G.M. of the Brigade had suggested that wall-plates with the word "Fireman" should be provided and fitted to fireman's residences. However, this subject came up again on the 19th January 1905 with the Council being asked to supply them. This must have been implemented at some time as I recall my Father having one in his possession but unfixed to the house!

A 'pencil' sketch of The King William IV Public House in Vantorts Road, just 75 yards from the 'new' Fire Station in Church Street. It is believed that the horses used had a dual role, that of pulling the hearse for funerals and the fire engine. What happened if there was a fire call during a funeral has not been determined!

The 'new' Fire Station was provided with a bell tower complete with bell. The bell, of course, needed someone to toll it and undoubtedly this was a known local (local to the fire station) person. The earliest I am aware of is the Butcher in The Square, Gerald Kirkby and afterwards and for many years, Mr. Edward (Ted), Morris, Orsman of the Bakery, 3 Church Street (1877 - 1966). It has never been made clear as to how contact was made with these shop keepers other than that it was presumably 'Local Knowledge' as far as people in Sawbridgeworth were concerned! Additionally one can only assume that outside of the town, and from other towns when assistance was required, messengers on horseback or cycles would have been used. Perhaps there was a shop window notice "You can call the Fire Brigade from here"? The Minute Book referred to earlier only refers in one instance to calling Fireman to the Fire Station and this related to the duties of Messengers having responsibility to go to the Fireman's house if he had not responded to the Fire Bell. It is fairly clear that from the start of the new fire station and for many years to come the Fire Bell was the main method of call-out.

The Bells were energised by a hand generator and switches, on the side wall and adjacent to the Rope Pull of the Fire Bell situated in the South West corner of the Fire Station. In fact I believe the generator etc. was originally placed on the front wall but were moved later to the position mentioned when additional alterations were made. The bells were connected by the use of 2 circuits, each circuit having a check bell of its own in the Fire Station. I believe that two circuits were really required on account of the voltage drop which would have occurred if all bells required would have been connected to one circuit. However, the additional value of the split was to cover for an emergency of one circuit not working: at least one would ring! The voltage generated was 50v.dc (see Addendum below). The circuits were switched manually by a brass surface mounted change-over switch of the pendulum type. This technical necessity of two circuits was often raised as an issue because some firemen would get the call before others! In the days of the Fire Bell, at night (after dark) the House Bells were always rung (twice) first and the Fire Bell used at the discretion of the ringer subject to the time of night. In the day time the Fire Bell was always tolled first, followed after a minute or so by the House bells being rung, again twice. Always though one ring on one circuit then on the other, then again: the duration of each ring was about 2 Minute each time. The fire bell itself remained being rung until sufficient men had arrived at the Fire Station.

GPO Bell Set 26 GPO Generator No. 13FN Far left, the 'House Bells' unit, were the standard GPO black Bakelite unit with clapper in the middle of the two bells and was the same from the beginning only becoming redundant after radio bleepers took over in 1971. (More recent information below) Left shows an example of a GPO AC Generator that could have been used in conjunction with House Bells.

GPO Bell 40B

Addendum 01/07/2020: The Webmaster's initial research indicated that the Generation of the voltage was Direct Current (DC) however the mention of House Bells on this page sparked the interest of an ex GPO Engineer based in Northamptonshire who worked on that counties Fire Brigade Call Out System. It seems that the systems were mostly operated on Direct Current using the GPO Bell 40B. However the style of that used at Sawbridgeworth indicates that these operated on Alternating Current (AC) and were GPO Bell Set 26. His further research along with ex GPO colleagues established that some of the early GPO systems did indeed use bells of that Alternating Current (AC) type. This is good evidence that Sawbridgeworth was equipped with house bells at possibly as early as 1939/1940 as indicated by the SFB Minutes of the 13th January 1939 and not towards the end of WWII as had previously been assumed! The webmaster is indebted to Chris Middleton & his colleagues for the research and information provided.

The method of call-out mentioned above was continued until the new Electric Siren was placed on the Hose or Drill Tower in 1947-8 and this purely took over from the Fire Bell. Its sounding was a continuous 'note' as with the war time All Clear. At this time the method of calling for the fire brigade was updated to make more use of the telephone system that the general public were becoming more accustomed to! By this time, Mr. Orsman, the Baker, was now the principal contact for all fire calls and any member of the public who called the Fire Brigade via the Sawbridgeworth (manual) telephone exchange would have been put through to Mr. Orsman who would have taken the details of the type of fire and the address. He would then rush to the Fire Station and sound the alarm. This was nothing new of course, he had by this time been doing this for years - what was new, was that more calls were being made by telephone instead of by 'runner' and there was a button to press instead of the bell to pull! As with every fireman, he was of course issued with a key to the Station door, which in those days was just one of a three stage folding door set that reached to the height of the bottom of the arched front. Above the doors was a non opening glass panelled arched wooden frame also of three panels. Later on these doors were to be completely replaced by three full height folding doors that fitted to the arch, the left hand door having a small pedestrian entry door within it.

The Pagers were, and still are, known in the Fire Brigade as Alerters. The radio signal to sound the alerters, and call the crew, is transmitted from equipment installed at the fire station. This transmitter is operated remotely by Fire Service Control, using primary, secondary or tertiary barriers, each one using a different method of triggering the station end equipment.