History of fire brigades in the United Kingdom



The history of fire brigades in the United Kingdom is complex due to many re-organisations having taken place.

The first fire engines and crews were provided by voluntary bodies, parish authorities or insurance companies. The creation of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade by statute in 1866 saw the beginning of a modern local authority fire brigade. In the decades that followed the new local government bodies created by nineteenth century legislation took over responsibility for fire-fighting.

The fire service was nationalised in 1941, but returned to local authority control in 1948. Since then there has been a gradual process of amalgamations so that the number of brigades has decreased greatly.

Naming of brigades
Prior to 1974 all but one of the fire brigades in England and Wales used the term "Fire Brigade", the exception was the City of Salford, which called itself "Fire Department". After 1974 All but two of the new authorities adopted the term "Fire Service", the two exceptions being Avon County and County Cleveland. Most of the older County brigades who came though the reorganisation with little change also changed their names to "Fire Service", the only brigades not to adopt the term were London, Cornwall, East Sussex, Somerset, West Sussex and Wiltshire, all of which still retained the name "Fire Brigade". More recently, almost all fire authorities have changed their name to "Fire and Rescue Service", the only exceptions to this are, Cleveland, Cornwall County and London who still use "Fire Brigade" and West Midlands Fire Service.

Fire brigades in England and Wales
Prior to 1938, there were some 1600 local fire brigades in operation. The Fire Brigades Act 1938 constituted the councils of all county boroughs and county districts (municipal boroughs, urban and rural districts) as fire authorities. The councils were required to provide the services for their borough or district of such a fire brigade and of such fire engines, appliances and equipment as may be necessary to meet efficiently all normal requirements.

During World War II, on 18 August 1941, the local authority fire brigades in Great Britain were combined into a National Fire Service (NFS). After the war, the government decided to better organise the UK fire service and passed the Fire Services Act 1947.

The 1947 Act transfered fire-fighting functions from the National Fire Service to fire brigades maintained by the councils of counties and county boroughs. The transfer took place in 1948. It also set down what each local authority must do in regard to having a fire brigade. Each local authority was responsible for:


 * Providing a fire brigade
 * The training of a fire brigade
 * The receiving of calls

Each county council and county borough council were required to maintain a brigade, although they were allowed to voluntarily combine with a neighbouring fire authority.

In the 1960s there were several changes to local government and some changes took place within the fire brigades but in the main they remained as created in 1948 until 1974. The Local Government Act 1972 created metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties, which were to be fire authorities.

The full list of the brigades formed under the 1947 Fire Services Act is given below along with the 1960s changes and the result of the 1974 Local Authority re-organisation:

England 1974 on
From 1974 each of the new county councils and the Greater London Council maintained a separate fire brigade. In 1986 the GLC and the six metropolitan county councils were abolished. This led to the establishment of fire and civil defence authorities which were joint boards of London and metropolitan borough councils. Local government reform in the 1990s created a number of unitary authorities and accordingly combined fire authorities constituted in a number of counties.

Wales 1974 - 1996
In 1974 Wales was divided into eight counties, each with a brigade.

Wales 1996 on
The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 replaced the eight counties with unitary authorities. The authorities are grouped into three areas for the provision of fire and rescue services. Fire services are administered by fire and rescue authorities consisting of councillors from each of the councils in the area.

1948 - 1975
The 1947 Act also reorganised fire services in Scotland. Section 36 obliged county councils, corporations of counties of cities and town councils of large burghs to form combined fire brigades. Schedule 4 set the combined areas of the new brigades.

The County of the City of Glasgow continued to maintain its own fire brigade, so that there were 11 brigades in all.

1975 - 1996
The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 reorganised local government from 1975. Counties and burghs were abolished, and fire authorities were to be the new regional or islands area councils. Some of the new administrative areas were grouped, and 8 brigades were formed in all.

1996 on
Local government in Scotland was again reorganised in 1996 by the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. This Act replaced the regions with unitary "area councils", while leaving the islands areas unchanged. The number of fire brigades remained at eight, although booundaries were realigned as groupings as of the new authorities. Minor name-changes also took place.

Fire brigades in Northern Ireland
As in Great Britain, there were numerous local authority fire brigades in Northern ireland until the Second World War. On March 1, 1942 all brigades were nationalised by the Fire Services (Emergency Provisions) (NI) Act 1942 as the National Fire Service (Northern Ireland).

On January 1, 1948, the Fire Services Act (Northern Ireland) 1947 came into effect. This provided for the stablishment of four brigades in the province:
 * Belfast Fire Brigade
 * Northern Fire Authority, based in Ballymena
 * Southern Fire Authority, based in Portadown
 * Western Fire Authority, based in Derry

Northern Ireland Fire Brigade 1950 - 2006
The three regional brigades were short-lived and on January 1, 1950 they were amalgamated into the Northern Ireland Fire Authority.

In 1973 the Belfast Fire Brigade and NIFA were amalgamated into a single Fire Authority for Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service
On July 1, 2006 the fire authority was replaced with a Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service Board, with the brigade adopting the title Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service.