The Beginning 1948
In 1946, the British Government announced that the responsibility for the country's national fire service would be transferred to individual counties and borough councils. The date they set for the changeover was 1st April 1948.
All the stations then existing in the County of West Sussex were included in the formation of the West Sussex Fire Brigade. West Sussex County Council created a Fire Brigade Committee that held its first meeting on 25th July 1947, headed by its first Chairman, J.Arthur Mason.
The committee's proposals were approved by the Home Office and by the changeover date of 1st April 1948, some 133 full-time firemen, plus 310 retained (ie part-time) and 32 volunteer personnel were operating from 23 county fire stations in 114 vehicles, the latter transferred from the old National Fire Service. The new County Brigade answered its first call that same morning at 07.14 hours, attending a chimney fire at number 28 Orchard Road, Horsham.
After a long, hard war, the great majority of the old fire stations were unsuitable for coping with the different requirements of peace-time fire-fighting and, in any case, were either wholly or partly rented from individual landlords or other local authorities. Many of the landlords and owners wanted their premises back and issued notices to quit some of the premises used as fire stations. Similarly, most of the appliances were designed specifically for wartime use and lacked the sophistication and versatility now needed, but the financial restrictions existing throughout post-war Great Britain, which remained in the grip of rationing until the early 1950's, made the purchase of new equipment difficult to afford.
The fire brigade committee realised that urgent action had to be taken to improve this situation and concentrated on re-furbishing the fire stations and as much modernisation as possible to existing appliances.
Meanwhile, at the end of 1948, Chief Fire Officer A J Bridle, OBE, instituted a radical re-organisation of the County Fire Brigade, resulting in additional full-time firemen at Bognor Regis, Chichester and Horsham, with fewer now necessary at the former 'frontline' coastal zone at Southwick and complete removal of full-time firemen from East Preston and Littlehampton stations. The small stations at Cowfold and Stedham were closed forever at midnight on the 31st March 1950.
The archives show that the 12 months up to that date had been a busy time for the County Fire Brigade. It had been a particularly hot, dry summer and no less than 1,746 calls had been received of which 843 were for fires. Due to a corresponding water shortage, the Brigade was also called upon to transport water to many parched rural areas with 652,600 gallons of water supplied during the year.
The first 10 years of the new Brigade saw a gradual increase in calls and by the end of March 1958 it had dealt with over 16,500 of them. During this period an average of 5 people a year were being killed as a result of fire in West Sussex. During that time the Brigade also received 1,500 special service calls to aircraft and train crashes, with just a few involving people trapped in road traffic accidents.
'RTA's' as they are now routinely called, were still fairly uncommon in the 50's due to the still relatively few vehicles on the country's roads but the bitterly cold winter of 1952/3 produced a spate of accidents on the icy roads, which pushed that year's total to an all-time high of 7.
Earlier, on 1st January 1949, a local bus skidded into the freezing river Adur during a blizzard. The brigade rescued 11 people from the bus and the firemen were later to receive commendations for their action in atrocious conditions.
In fact several County firemen were commended during the 1950's for rescues in dangerous or arduous conditions, including the retrieval of people and animals from wells, a man buried in a collapsed trench, and 2 men trapped in a sewerage shaft. Other human predicaments at that time included a person trapped between a lamp post and a wall, someone with their hand up a chimney flue, another with their foot in a water valve pit and a lady with her head stuck between the rails of her bedhead… Unfortunately no records seem to exist of precisely how she came to be there!
In April 2004, 56 years after its inception, West Sussex County Council's fire brigade changed its name to reflect much more accurately the wider scope of its role as a modern emergency rescue service, meeting the challenges presented by an increasingly complex society. Highly-trained fire fighters, male and female, work from efficient fire stations and use the most hi-tech equipment available to save lives. This new name, in line with recommendations in a Government White Paper is WEST SUSSEX FIRE & RESCUE SERVICE.
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Paul Archer
Last Updated Wednesday July 21, 2004 12:04 PM
