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For pretty obvious reasons the
amount of information available in both written and picture form is rather
scarce. It is though somewhat surprising that it took some time for it to be
realised that some very positive organising would be necessary albeit that
things were hotting up by mid-year in 1939. By December the circulars to
Local Authorities nationally from The Under Secretary Of State, Home Office
(Fire Brigades Division), Cleland House, Page Street, London S.W.1 were
pouring out thick and fast and issued to local authorities, most of which were also duplicated to "The Chief
Officer of the Fire Brigade". These documents show
many things that one may not have considered in terms of the enormous impact
the state of war must have had on general local authority administration of
the time. In 1940 the National Fire Service was yet to be established - Air Raid Wardens and certain fire personnel given, by statute, the
right of entry to property to fight fires (136/1940);
Fire fighting appliances issued to local authorities on loan (129/1940);
Establishment of Watching Posts (124/1940);
Cement control (117/1940); Requisitioning and taking possession of Garages (109/1940);
Clearance of Lofts Order! (107/1940);
Insurance of Emergency Vehicles (105/194);
Provision of food for Civil Defence personnel (99/1940);
Rates of Pay for Civil Defence Volunteers (98/1940).
All of these and many more are available as set out in the
'box' < right>
below through the provided link where they can be viewed
and or downloaded individually or as grouped within zip files. |
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This
notice was found tucked away in the loft of the Fire Station when it was
cleared for moving to new premises. As with the rest of the UK then, the
telephone was only installed in a very few households and this 'record' of
history indicates how few they were
- in a town then of some 3,500 people the
number shown to call is Sawbridgeworth 3! Even shortly after the war I can
recall that one of the local company telephone numbers was Sawbridgeworth 25 |
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For
National Fire Service (NFS) Records - Sawbridgeworth 1940's see
Log Books |
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Some WWII childhood memories of the Webmaster can be
viewed here [ HERE
] |
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National Fire Service:
Fire Area 12, Division B, Sub-Division 4, Station X
March 1945. |
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This Official
Photograph was
taken on a very wet Sunday Morning to record the disbanding of the
Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) and National Fire Service (NFS) at Sawbridgeworth. Even in this print
careful reference to the road gutter shows rain water flowing. In the
original picture the knees of those sitting can be seen to be very wet!
Unfortunately, the weather put off many of the Brigade Members attending
believing that the arranged photograph would not go ahead. The photo.
therefore does not represent the whole of the Brigade based at
Sawbridgeworth - it is believed the numbers were actually about 40
personnel. The names of those in the picture are provided on the Photo Gallery
page of the Web Site or, you can download the picture above.
In the background can
just be seen an Austin TV (Towing Vehicle). These were NFS standard vehicles
and were relatively 'lightly' equipped painted mid grey in colour. They were
very 'square', similar to a 1960's - 1970's Box Van, carrying a 30' extension
ladder on top and standardised
2½"
canvas hose and other equipment housed under boxed seats that ran the length
of the vehicle both sides, for the crew. In a sense this seating was an
innovation as the crew were protected from the elements, the open back being
capable of being closed by canvas curtains! The fire fighting capacity was
provided by towing a Trailer Pump which carried two sections of 4" suction
hose connected to which was a wicker filter basket over a pieced metal one.
Again, these trailer pumps were pretty standard either made by Coventry
Climax of Coventry or Dennis Bros. of Guildford. Sawbridgeworth had the
Coventry Climax. For those technically minded, the difference between the
two types of Trailer Pump was that the Coventry Climax created the vacuum to
lift water from rivers etc. by diversion of the engine exhaust through a
venturi and had to be run at very high revs. to pick up water and the Dennis
by a reciprocating piston twin 'pot type' vacuum pump driven by the engine.
I believe both types had a single stage centrifugal pump with an output of around 250
gallons per minute but there were larger versions too.
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| The
Webmaster has made a contribution to the BBC Web Site that has taken
personal contributions about people's World War 2 memories. These
are Personal Memories of the war in Sawbridgeworth as remembered and
seen through the eyes of a 5 - 10 year old boy of that time - see
right... |
Web Site at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar |
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Sawbridgeworth Aerodrome.
Sawbridgeworth had its own part to play in World War Two as
the host of one of the RAF Airfields which, during that
time, had close associations with the fighter station of
North Weald. The very interesting and informative Web Site "Wartime
Airfields" is well worth a visit. A Memorial dedicated
to the Sawbridgeworth Airfield was officially opened in May
2006 the details of which can be seen
here. Very soon after 1945
the airfield huts became the home of squatters from the
London area and many remained for several years. However,
the main buildings and area around were ideal for
Sawbridgeworth Fire Brigade to use as drill areas and some
buildings were used for ladder work and rescue into the
early 1960's.
A
Sawbridgeworth story of valour -
Wing
Commander James Hardy Marks DSO and Bar, DFC
(With acknowledgement to
Sawbridgeworth.com)
[
PDF Copy ] |
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| Other items
that may be of interest: |
| The
Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) - A Crown Film Unit 1940/41
Film - An hour long film to represent the task of units in
London - Link
HERE |
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Commemorating the National Fire Service (NFS) 1940 - 1945 -A Pathé film - Link
HERE (With thanks to
Simon Lincoln for spotting it on Facebook). |
| Another interesting site is the record of Bombs dropped
on London and Greater London during the Blitz... See:
http://www.bombsight.org/#15/51.5050/-0.0900 |
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