An introduction to fire fighting in Kent
Contributed by John Meakins – January 2010
Early fire fighting
Following the departure of the Roman Empire from Britain in the
5th century, it was more than a thousand years before any form of
organised fire fighting appeared.
The Great Fire of London occurred in 1666 and, as a result the
city merchants pressed for some form of fire insurance. Insurance
pioneers realised it would be in their interests to set up their
own private fire brigades to limit financial loss should a fire
break out in any of their insured properties.
However, insurance fire brigades did not appear in Kent until
1802 when the Kent Fire Office formed a brigade in Deptford (which
was at the time part of Kent). In the same year, and completely
separately from insurance companies, Hythe became the first town in
Kent to set up its own fire brigade, followed by Ashford in
1826.
Fire fighting goes local
By the 20th century, it was quite fashionable for local
authorities to have their own fire brigades. Maidstone had seen the
formation of its borough fire brigade in 1901 when the Royal
Insurance Company provided a new Shand Mason horse-drawn steam fire
engine, named The Queen. This company had taken over the Kent Fire
Office in the same year, simultaneously disbanding their own
brigade.
Things often became very competitive between individual town and
village brigades, in many instances, each one trying to outdo its
neighbour.
In 1910, Bromley became the first town in Kent to house
motorised fire engines, with two new Merryweather vehicles being
stationed there.
The threat of war
Until 1938, the provision of a fire brigade was a discretionary
power, and naturally, there were a few local authorities that
regarded it as an unnecessary expense. However, encouraged by the
threat of war, Parliament made it a duty and so created over 1,600
individual fire authorities across the nation.
It was these local brigades and the Auxiliary Fire Service –
also formed in 1938 – that valiantly coped with the consequences of
the Battle of Britain and much of the Blitz. In August 1941, local
brigades and the AFS were absorbed into one organisation called The
National Fire Service.
The fire service was returned to local authority control on 1
April 1948, with responsibility in England and Wales being given to
the 146 counties and county boroughs of the day. The County of Kent
and the City and County Borough of Canterbury combined to form Kent
Fire Brigade, taking over 79 fire stations from the National Fire
Service.
Change and evolution
Subsequent local government reorganisations have had their
effect upon the brigade, most significantly in 1965 when eight fire
stations in the northwest of the county were transferred to the
newly created Greater London area. Further reorganisation in 1974
saw Canterbury lose its county borough status and the fire brigade
became the exclusive responsibility of Kent County Council.
In 1998, the structure of local government changed again and
Kent combined with the new Medway Towns unitary authority for fire
brigade provision.
On 1 October 2003, Kent Fire Brigade was renamed Kent Fire and
Rescue Service to better reflect the requirements demanded of it
for many years.
As the service enters the second decade of the 21st century, its
role continues to change and evolve to better serve the people of
Kent and Medway, helping them to stay safer. In recent years, Kent
Fire and Rescue Service has responded to more road crashes than
fires, and is developing techniques to cope with the threat of
flooding, chemical incidents and the after-effects of natural
disasters and terrorism.