London Fire Brigade Gallery

Firefighters and winter snows, WW2

The early winters of the Second World War were snowy with numerous falls of one or two feet and occasional falls (such as in 1940-1941) in which snow depths of up to 16 feet (drifts) were recorded. The south was quite badly affected, although more particularly the south west and Wales. The winter of 1939-1940 saw the supposed blizzard of the decade in Scotland and England when in late January snow fell widely. As seen here, wartime firemen were kept busy keeping their station yards free of snow

© London Fire Brigade / Mary Evans Picture Library

Fireboat tackling fire at Colonial Wharf, East London

A fireboat tackles a fire at Colonial Wharf, Wapping High Street, East London, 27 September 1935. This was a typical big Thamesside fire of the sort which the London Fire Brigade has tackled for over 100 years. The nine-storey warehouse was full of crude rubber and burned for four days, during which time a number of explosions took place. Sixty pumps, 20 special appliances and three fireboats, manned in all by 600 firefighters, fought the huge blaze: they successfully prevented the fire from spreading to the surrounding warehouses

© London Fire Brigade / Mary Evans Picture Library

NFS (London Region) narrow boat fitted with fire pumps

There were 18 river fire stations along the length of the River Thames during WW2. They were used to accommodate the crews on a 24 hour standby to operate the fireboats. In addition the three permanent London Fire Brigade fireboats, including the Massey Shaw, other fireboats and craft were brought into service. Here narrow boats (known locally in London as monkey boats) were equipped with trailer pumps in order to access, and provide water supplies from, the canals that ran north of the River Thames

© London Fire Brigade / Mary Evans Picture Library