Blazes and Brigades: The Story of the Fire Service

By TonyMayhew on Apr 4, 2017

Timeshift looks back on nearly two centuries of British firefighting, and explores how major incidents and the evolution of equipment from manual pumps to motorised fire engines have helped forge the modern fire service.The founding father of modern firefighting was Scotsman James Braidwood, whose pioneering techniques helped save Westminster Hall when the Houses of Parliament were consumed by fire in 1834. Remarkably, London had no publicly funded fire service at the time - and it was only afte…