London Fire Brigade Gallery

Fire at J Lyons Corner House, The Strand, London

Firefighters deal with a fire in J Lyons Corner House, The Strand, Central London. This was a popular and famous tea room in London's West End, opened in 1915. It had a restaurant on each floor, and live orchestral music. The ground floor contained a large food court. The tea rooms were noted for their art deco interior design and the brand was famous for its gold lettering on a white background. The restaurant opened again for business three hours after this fire was put out by the Brigade

© London Fire Brigade / Mary Evans Picture Library

NFS (Salvage Corps) workers at a fire, WW2

Salvage workers from Cannon Street fire station sub-station A2Z.2X (Watling Street) undertaking salvage work at a warehouse fire. Although with a similar uniform to that of a firefighter, salvage workers wore armbands stating that they were with the Corps. Shown here with salvage sheets protecting machinery, and oil being applied to protect it from water damage

© 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