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National Fire Service Ww2

horsencart

master brummie
There are very few signs in Birmingham that relate to the Second World War most would have been taken down, the only one that I know is still Extant is on the side of a building in Floodgate Street in Digbeth it relates to the NFS (National Fire Service) I assume that the original reason for the sign was to tell any passing Firemen that there was water near to the sign this is a photo of the sign https://www.flickr.com/photos/dofartshavelumps/12478687083
 
That is a most interesting 'photo: it must have been put there at least 68 years ago and it is remarkable how it has survived and is still quite legible. (Assuming it to be a recent post). Ones I have seen were usually white with clack lettering but of course this may have varied from Region to Region or administration. I am curious to the use of the building, when the sign was painted, and another point of interest is the wall, on which the sign is painted, as it seems to be a bricked in doorway.
I presume it make reference to the canal which was close by as open water - as opposed to hydrants - were always clearly marked. Static water tanks were also located in town and ares of high risk where open water, such as a river or canal, was not available. Tidal water was part of the knowledge that firefighters needed to know but also knowing the times of high and low water was essential.
In the watchroom where I was a firefighter we have a list of all open water supplies, including tidal, which had been pasted there during WW2 when the station was that of the NFS. Sadly modernisation removed all the older paraphernalia and this list now only serves in memories. I have to add that during the drought of 1976 this list was most useful and I, with one or two others, checked that these sources of water still existed. Fortunately most still did.
 
The factory in 1942 was 78 Cranes Screw & Colryp Castor Co Ltd Mfrs

That is a most interesting 'photo: it must have been put there at least 68 years ago and it is remarkable how it has survived and is still quite legible. (Assuming it to be a recent post). Ones I have seen were usually white with clack lettering but of course this may have varied from Region to Region or administration. I am curious to the use of the building, when the sign was painted, and another point of interest is the wall, on which the sign is painted, as it seems to be a bricked in doorway.
I presume it make reference to the canal which was close by as open water - as opposed to hydrants - were always clearly marked. Static water tanks were also located in town and ares of high risk where open water, such as a river or canal, was not available. Tidal water was part of the knowledge that firefighters needed to know but also knowing the times of high and low water was essential.
In the watchroom where I was a firefighter we have a list of all open water supplies, including tidal, which had been pasted there during WW2 when the station was that of the NFS. Sadly modernisation removed all the older paraphernalia and this list now only serves in memories. I have to add that during the drought of 1976 this list was most useful and I, with one or two others, checked that these sources of water still existed. Fortunately most still did.
 
Canadian firefighters gift to the National Fire Service in Birmingham in 1942. Viv.

image.jpeg
 
in May 1941 Herbert Morrison, Labour politician and then Home Secretary
declared:
The House [of Commons] and the country must face the fact that an air
attack is not a treat. It is a grim thing. It is an act of war. People who think
that it is only a matter of going out next morning and sweeping up the waste
paper are quite wrong. Raids are acts of war which create very considerable
disturbance. Firemen faced with incidents of the kind I have related deserve
our sympathy and support.

During the Second World War, as Morrison makes evident, firefighting was a home front
civilian job unlike any other. Those ‘heroes with grimy faces’, as Churchill described them,

were not only called upon to fight fires, an extremely dangerous job under any
circumstances,
but also often had to do so while the Luftwaffe were still dropping bombs overhead. The men
of Britain’s fire services risked serious injury and even death to protect people and buildings.
Indeed,
16,000 firemen lost their lives in the course of the war.
 
That is a most interesting 'photo: it must have been put there at least 68 years ago and it is remarkable how it has survived and is still quite legible. (Assuming it to be a recent post). Ones I have seen were usually white with clack lettering but of course this may have varied from Region to Region or administration. I am curious to the use of the building, when the sign was painted, and another point of interest is the wall, on which the sign is painted, as it seems to be a bricked in doorway.
I presume it make reference to the canal which was close by as open water - as opposed to hydrants - were always clearly marked. Static water tanks were also located in town and ares of high risk where open water, such as a river or canal, was not available. Tidal water was part of the knowledge that firefighters needed to know but also knowing the times of high and low water was essential.
In the watchroom where I was a firefighter we have a list of all open water supplies, including tidal, which had been pasted there during WW2 when the station was that of the NFS. Sadly modernisation removed all the older paraphernalia and this list now only serves in memories. I have to add that during the drought of 1976 this list was most useful and I, with one or two others, checked that these sources of water still existed. Fortunately most still did.
Hello Radiorails, would you know anything about members of the army seconded to Birmingham Fire Service in WW1? The person I am thinking of served 6 Oct 197 to 13 Jan 1918, presumably was in digs for that time?
 
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