Gallery 1
Kington’s Fire Brigade
Images will be up shortly!
History
Kington had a Fire brigade of some sorts from about 1830 but it was not until 1888 that Ernest F Mitchell of Bridge Street, a local tanner, agreed to fund the costs of forming a proper uniformed Fire brigade. A local diarist notes – 28 August 1888: ‘a Fire Brigade having been formed and subscriptions collected to supply them with uniforms and accoutrements, they were called up for drill and inspection in the Market Hall. Quite a novelty for Kington for many had not seen a Fireman fully equipped before.’
The running of the Brigade was in the hands of the Town Commissioners initially, and later their successors the Kington Urban District Council. The Fire Station was originally in the building adjacent to this museum called the Coach House and was here until the outbreak of WW2, when it moved into larger premises off Duke Street, in Sun Lane, where it remained until 1963 until the present station opened in 1963.
The Fire Engine
By 1888, the Fire Engine in use was some 30 years old, but it was 1893 before a new ‘fully equipped Merryweather Fire Engine’ was purchased to replace it. This was a horse drawn manually operated machine, and was named ‘The Arrow’. It required 24 men to operate it fully, 12 on each side. The pumpers were usually rounded up at the fire, and in 1925 were paid a shilling (5p) an hour for this duty. This machine was replaced about 1935 with a Dennis trailer pump which had to be towed by a vehicle, and at first the coal lorry from the Central Garage was used for this purposes (it was not unknown for the coal to have to be unloaded first). Later a ‘straight eight’ Buick motor car was obtained to tow the pump. It was this outfit that was dispatched to London during the Blitz, by which time Kington Fire Brigade had been absorbed into the National Fire Service.
The Pump
The trailer pump remained the main piece of equipment at Kington right up until the late 1950s. In 1947 the County of Hereford Fire Brigade came into being and absorbed the Kington Brigade. The towing vehicle now became an ex-London Fire Brigade Austin, fitted with a hundred gallon water tank with one first aid hose reel. About 1960, a 100 gallon per minute Major Pump was built into the Austin vehicle, thus making the trailer pump redundant, although this was kept until 1965.
The New Fire Station
The new Fire Station was opened in October 1963, and was a two appliance room. The Austin became the number two appliance, the front line appliance being a shiny brand new Bedford machine with a 400 gallon capacity tank and right up-to-date equipment the like of which had never been seen in Kington before. In 1974 the Brigade became standardised. Two Dennis appliances were acquired with either 35 foot or 45 foot ladders, and a full range of equipment, not only for fire fighting, but also for rescue and accident duties.
