THE BIRTH OF THE FRESHWATER FIRE BRIGADE
I don't know the origin of this article, it is attributed to F Cleverley. The copy I have is a poor photocopy and the original photographs would not copy. These have been replaced by similar ones from "West Wight Remembered" by Eric Toogood (see notes below).
In the middle 1920's we had a very strong scout troop in Freshwater. The scouts were getting too old to
remain Boy Scouts, but the comradeship was too great to disband, so the 1st Rover Scouts (now Venture
Scouts), were formed. Then
we had to decide on activities to make it worthwhile. After several ideas were discussed, someone said,
"What about fire fighting?" Now you may find it difficult to
believe that the nearest fire station then was at Newport and, remembering
that the roads at that time were rough gravel and that vehicles were very
different from the modern ones, you can see
that the earliest we could expect a fire appliance to arrive in Freshwater
would be at least an hour after the initial alarm.
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A photo from the mid 30's. The 'Black Hut' is in the background. (1) |
Well
what could we do? First
ask the experts. We contacted Captain Shields at Newport Fire Station who
welcomed our idea and invited us in to meet his men on the next weekly
drill night. They liked our enthusiasm but made it pretty clear that all
we could hope for, without and engine, was to work from a hydrant if
there happened
to be one sufficiently near the fire. However he said that a number of
young men who could be assembled in a fairly short time would be
invaluable as helpers on the job, getting out people and possessions etc.
Anyway we decided to go for it.
Newport was very kind to us in
lending us a few pieces of equipment to start us off. We came home with a
stand-pipe, key and bar, a few lengths of rather dilapidated hose and a
couple of branches complete with nozzles. We just couldn't wait to get to
work. Our scout hut was the black hut in School Green and a convenient
hydrant is right there.
The next evening, full of excitement, we lifted the
hydrant
cover and found it
full of mud and grit. I don't suppose it had been serviced since being installed.
However we soon scooped it out, screwed in the stand-pipe, put the key and
bar in place, ran out one length of hose, clicked in the branch and nozzle
and turned on. That feeling, as a beautiful jet of water issued from
the nozzle, is indescribable. The
Freshwater. Rover Fire Brigade was born! or was it? How did we receive fire calls? How
did we get the equipment to the fire? How did we ourselves get to the fire?
One thing at a time. Mr Jeffrey, the Rover scout leader, had two coal lorries delivering in the district daily,
both driven by Rover scouts. He Suggested that all fire calls should be
sent to his shop Honnor and Jeffrey. He would, go by car and contact the nearest lorry which would go at
once to the hut, pick up the fire fighting gear and proceed to the fire.
So far so good, but what about us? Very few people were on the phone in those days but one Rover was, George Seldom, as a printer in School Green. Three of us had motor cycles including George. On receipt of the call George would contact each of the other motor Cyclists and each one had a passenger to pick up and proceed to the fire. If all went according to plan we should have at least seven eager young men arrive at about the same time. We had several dummy runs. I know it sounds terribly crude now, but it seemed to work. We managed to get a bit more equipment from Shanklin Fire Station. Then we set to work on the hydrants. All were in a terrible state and full of rubbish. This job we did most religiously every month. We drilled regularly once a week and dealt with a few small fires.
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I am afraid our efforts were viewed with
a bit of sarcasm, at first. “Here come
the boys with their tap." was one, and when the lorry came to the fire with
the equipment, plus a few bags of coal, you can guess, can’t you. ”Well if they can’t put out the fire out, they can keep it going until Newport get here. "But we kept at
it and although it now sounds so ridiculous, it really did work. Then
something put us on the map. The local Picture Palace caught fire and was blazing from end to end. The Palace was
where Kempsters shop is now and luckily a hydrant on a seven inch main is
at Moa Place. We were able to get four good jets to work at once and
managed to stop any spread of fire. Of course the Palace was doomed but all
agreed that the whole street would have gone up by the time the Newport
Brigade arrived. We had really established ourselves as fire
fighters. The neighbours all got together and presented our troop with a
new bell tent. Also
insurance companies of all nearby properties sent sums of money to
Jeffrey to get
more equipment. So we bought a model T Ford van, which had
been used for local bread delivery, from Mr T Gilling. We painted it a lovely bright red and proudly had it named the "1st Freshwater
Rover Fire Brigade". This was in 1926 and believe it or not we continued like this for 10 years. |
1928 : Rover Fire Brigade 'T' Ford (2) |
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In 1938 a
Fire Brigade Act came into being
which compelled all Parish Councils over a certain size to provide a
suitable Fire Brigade. A new Ford V6 with a Drysdale pump was purchased by
Freshwater and Totland Parish Councils and were
offered the job of manning the appliance but they insisted that as it was such a valuable machine, a
Councillor should be Officer in Charge. Mr Rawson was the chosen man and
he made it clear to us
that it was in name only and he would like us to carry on as usual.
Now, for the first time we were in uniform and riding a real fire engine.
Our new station was at Kingsbridge, where the Tennyson Ambulance is now
housed. For a call out, a fire siren was mounted on the roof and each
fireman's house was fitted with a bell. They were operated from the local telephone
exchange, which was of course manually operated. The siren was cut out at 11.00pm by a time switch at the fire station and only the bells sounded. |
1938: The first big fire using the Parish Council fire appliance. (3) |
We had
quite a few big fires, one being the National Provincial Bank which is
where the fish and chip shop is now. This was our first big one using the
new fire engine. When war broke out everything changed. We were all called
up for full war time service and eventually spread around other stations.
N.F.S. and A.F.S. followed, then when hostilities ceased all fire stations
became the property of the I.W.C.C.
As
soon as possible after the war I was able to get away from full time duty by driving an
essential works lorry for a local firm but immediately rejoined the Freshwater Fire Service part time.
Unfortunately only three of the original Rovers joined but six A.F.S. came
into the brigade which was now part time retained. We now started getting
bigger, more modern, appliances each carrying 400 gallons of water and
much more equipment. The call out system was greatly improved; a direct
phone line from Headquarters at Newport was installed and
all fire calls went direct to Headquarters. When the direct number was
dialled it operated our fire siren
The first man
in would lift the special red phone and take the message. When the
receiver was replaced it reset the call system. The phone was not used for
any other purpose. I thought this could not be improved upon. Of course I
was wrong again.
The Tennyson Road station was opened in May 1961
and I reached the age of 55 and retired at the end of that year after 34
great years. Since then the vehicle has been equipped with two-way radio and breathing sets, a luxury
I never enjoyed. The siren has gone as each fireman now carries a bleeper
operated from Newport. There is no need to take a message from the phone.
It is all there on a telex machine. What progress, but will they ever get the fun and
satisfaction that we did? I wonder.
Notes:
(1) This replaces a picture of the troop band. The black hut was on the green, now appropriately known as 'Black Hut Green', opposite All Saints School. The hut itself, after being used to store newspaper for recycling, was demolished about 1990.
(2) This is a clearer version of the original.
(3) This is similar to the original, but taken further away. It also shows a member on a ladder hosing down the fire. The fire was actually in Cliff Hall, behind the bank.