On the 19th March 1941, five local firemen lost their lives whilst on duty during the London bombings. The London Fire Brigade had been under intense pressure from the many fires caused by enemy bombs and had to frequently call in reinforcements from outlying areas. It was on this fated night at West Ham that the Coney Hall Auxillary Fire Service was called to action. On convey to a fire in Silvertown their truck was obliterated by a land-mine explosion, killing five of its crew. (Charles) Wesley Drew, Dennis Gerald…
Tag: Firemen
Work of the Firemen in 1944
In preparation for war, the Auxiliary Fire Service was established in the United Kingdom in 1938 to supplement the many individual peacetime fire fighters. The AFS had their own often rapidly-constructed or requisitioned stations, or added their own services to existing stations. 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). It existed until 1948, when it was again split by the Fire Services Act 1947, with fire services reverting to…