Fire Engines

More complex and imposing than any other vehicle in the British emergency services, the fire engine has a long and interesting history.
The earliest water pumps had been developed by the eighteenth century - basic manual pumps that had to be hauled around by people or horses, and were often only used on fire-insured premises. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries horse-drawn, steam-powered fire engines, and eventually motorised fire engines, came to revolutionise firefighting, offering far greater versatility and the brigades came to be run by the municipalities.
In this beautifully illustrated introduction, Eddie Baker charts the history of fire engines and their variants, and the increasingly complex equipment they have carried, such as high-rise ladders and high-pressure hoses. He also explains the wider history of the fire service and how the engines have been shaped by its needs and, most importantly, those of the firefighters themselves.

Eddie Baker joined the fire service in 1960 when he enrolled in the Croydon Auxiliary Fire Service. He was promoted through the ranks to Sub Officer prior to amalgamation with the London Fire Brigade, and continued to serve in the AFS, followed by the Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely Fire Brigade and Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service. He retired in 1995 as a Leading Firefighter. Eddie has written six books and a number of articles on the Fire Service, and gives talks to local groups on the history of the UK Fire Service.

Early Days
1900-1920
1921-1939
The Second World War
1945-1959
The 1960s and 1970s
The 1980s and 1990s
The Twenty-first Century
Airports and Industrial Brigades
Glossary
Places to Visit
Further Reading
Index