National Fire Service

{{Short description|Unified fire service in Great Britain during World War II}}

{{Infobox fire department

| name = National Fire Service

| logo = National Fire Service badge (cropped).jpg

| motto =

| country = United Kingdom

| subdivision_type1 = Coverage

| subdivision_name1 = Great Britain

| subdivision_type2 =

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| established = August 1941

| dissolved = 1948

| employees = 370,000 (peak)

| CFO = Sir Aylmer Firebrace

| ALSorBLS =

| reference2 =

| divisions = 40 Fire Forces

| battalions =

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}}

File:ChathamHDFireEngine0079.JPG

The National Fire Service (NFS) was the single fire service created in Great Britain in 1941 during the Second World War; a separate National Fire Service (Northern Ireland) was created in 1942.[http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bill.broadhurst/pageeleven.htm Bangor Fire Brigade: A Brief History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222649/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bill.broadhurst/pageeleven.htm |date=2007-09-27 }}

History

File:Women National Fire Service.jpg

The NFS was created in August 1941 by the amalgamation of the wartime national Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) and the local authority fire brigades (about 1,600 of them). Prior to this, many police forces were charged with attending fires, with Liverpool City Police being an early example of a Police Fire Brigade.{{Cite web |last=Dellius |first=Peter |date=May 2013 |title=Liverpool City Police Fire Brigade 1836-1939 |url=https://www.liverpoolcitypolice.co.uk/departments/fire-brigade/ |access-date=28 January 2024}} Amalgamating roles continued for some time until the need for a separate police and fire service was brought to the attention of the Home Office whom, on the report of a Royal Commission, brought about the NFS as a result of The Fire Brigade Act 1938.{{Cite web |title=Police Fire Brigades |url=https://firefightersmemorial.org.uk/research/police-fire-brigades/ |access-date=28 January 2024 |website=The Firefighters Memorial Trust}}

The NFS existed until 1948, when it was again split by the Fire Services Act 1947, with fire services reverting to local authority control, although this time there were far fewer brigades, with only one per county and county borough.

The NFS had full-time and part-time members, male and female. Its uniform was the traditional dark blue double-breasted tunic, and it adopted the peaked cap worn by the AFS instead of the peakless sailor-style cap which had been worn by many pre-war fire brigades (including the London Fire Brigade). The peaked cap was retained by fire services after the war.

When they were on duty, but in the frequent long stretches between calls, many firemen and firewomen performed vital wartime manufacturing work, in workshops in the fire stations or adjacent to them. This was entirely voluntary, but since many of the wartime personnel had worked in factories before the war it was work with which they were familiar and skilled.

War service meant considerable risk, and members of the NFS were called to attend the aftermath of German bombing raids and coastal shelling from France, or often whilst these attacks were still ongoing. Casualties were inevitable, and there is one record of one volunteer who died on duty aged just 19, and was awarded the Certificate for Gallantry as a result.{{Cite web|url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/3115241|title = Casualty Details | CWGC}} He is buried in the Hamilton Road Cemetery, Deal, Kent.

The Chief of the Fire Staff and Inspector-in-Chief throughout the war (until 28 February 1947, when he retired) was Sir Aylmer Firebrace, former Chief Officer of the London Fire Brigade.

At peak strength the NFS had 370,000 personnel, including 80,000 women.{{cite ODNB|last=Haley|first=Reginald|title=Firebrace, Sir Aylmer Newton George (1886–1972)|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/66852|access-date=14 July 2013|date=January 2012|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/66852}} The women were mostly employed on administrative duties.

The NFS was divided into about forty Fire Forces. These were subdivided into Divisions. Each Division had two Columns and each Column had five Companies.

Ranks

class="wikitable" ! colspan=7 align="center"\|National Fire Service RanksIndustrial Court Decision 2088, 1 May 1947
---- ! colspan=1 \| ! colspan=2 \|Men ! colspan=2 \|Women ! colspan=2 \|Police equivalentPay parity with equivalent police ranks was established from the outset for male officers (Company Officer and above). Firemen and Section Leaders were given parity with police Constables and Sergeants by Industrial Court Decision 2076, 18 December 1946, with Leading Firemen receiving an intermediate rate. Women never had pay parity.
---- !Insignia{{cite book \|last=Talbot-Booth \|first=E.C. \|date=1943 \|title=Ranks and Badges in the Navy, Army, RAF and Auxiliaries \|url=http://www.thortrains.net/downloads/Rank-and-Badges1943.pdf \|location=London \|publisher=George Philip & Son, Ltd. \|page=32}} !Rank !Number in April 1947 !Rank !Number in April 1947 !London !Outside London
---- \| 50px	Fireman		Firewoman		Constable	Constable
---- \| 50px	Leading Fireman		Leading Firewoman
---- \| 50px	Section Leader		Senior Leading Firewoman		Sergeant	Sergeant
---- \| 50px	Company Officer	1,100	Assistant Group Officer	50	Inspector	Inspector
---- \| 50px	Senior Company Officer	250	Group Officer	27	Sub-Divisional Inspector	Chief Inspector
---- \| 50px	Column Officer	382	Assistant Area Officer	1	Chief Inspector	Superintendent
---- \| 50px	Divisional Officer	194	Area Officer	11	Superintendent	Chief Superintendent
---- \| 50px	Assistant Fire Force Commander	52	Regional Woman Fire Officer	3	Deputy Commander
---- \| 50px	Fire Force Commander	53			Commander
---- \| 50px	Chief Regional Fire Officer
---- \| style="vertical-align: middle" \| N/A	Senior Staff Officer
---- \| style="vertical-align: middle" \| N/A	Inspector
---- \| style="vertical-align: middle" \| N/A	Chief of the Fire Staff & Inspector-in-Chief	1

Notable members

Sir Frederick Delve (career firefighter and fire service administrator)
Leslie Leete (career firefighter - later successor to Delve as chief officer of London Fire Brigade)

Members of the NFS who were well known in civilian life (or later became so) included:

Len Johnson, boxer and civil rights activist (served in Manchester and Cumbria){{cite news|url=https://theoldabbeytaphouse.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/2/1/24219904/len-johnson-turned-out-colour-bar-in-manchester-pub-daily-worker-wednesday-1-october-1953-1_orig.jpg|agency=The Daily Worker|author=|title=Pub Colour Bar Is Removed: Len Johnson wins another fight|date=October 3, 1953|page=9|access-date=January 15, 2021}}
Paul Brooks, cricketer (served in London and Coventry){{cite news|url=http://www.trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/68960152|title="Boy Who Bowled Bradman" Dies of War Injuries|date=29 January 1946|work=The Advocate|page=1|access-date=14 April 2012}}

An eleven-minute Second World War documentary that chronicles the birth and work of the NFS survived the war and is available to view on the British Pathe website.{{cite web |url=http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=82936 |title=The Birth of a Service (1940) |publisher=British Pathe Ltd |access-date=12 October 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110302102239/http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=82936 |archive-date=2 March 2011 }}

Service personnel received Certificate of Service documents.

File:National Fire Service - Certificate of Service Document.jpg

Footnotes

Category:Defunct fire and rescue services of the United Kingdom

Category:1941 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:1948 disestablishments in the United Kingdom

Category:Civil defence organisations based in the United Kingdom

Category:United Kingdom home front during World War II

National Fire Service

History

Ranks

Notable members

See also

Footnotes