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Product Description
In the late 1930s the Fire Brigades Act brought into being the Auxiliary Fire Service - setting up a force that operated in parallel with regular fire fighters. In the early stages of the Second World War, as the government realised the importance of a unified fire fighting force throughout the county, emergency provisions were made for a National Fire Service. This came into being in 1941. This account of the NFS from its foundation includes many vivid and moving interviews with firemen and women who lived through the period, previously unseen photographs and documents, and also illustrates the vital role of the volunteer Corps of Canadian Fire fighters. John Leete records in detail the magnificent contribution made by these brave men and women.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Despite the wording on the cover 'Britain's fire service at war', don't be fooled by the author's/publisher's misleading sub-title: this book should really be called 'Hampshire's fire service at war' as the vast majority of the book seems to concentrate on the author's home county.
The author's slant - his previous two books were about Hampshire during the war - gives the impression that most of the fire service action took place in Hampshire and there's actually very little in the book about where the AFS/NFS saw the most action - London!
Although the information on the Canadian fire-fighters in Britain was interesting - you guessed it, many of whom were based in Hampshire - with all due respect, the story takes up two chapters of the book, as opposed to any detail of the types of various fire service vehicles, pumps etc, which were used all over Britain, which are barely mentioned. For a book that is supposedly about "Britain's" fire service, there's not even a national map of all the various Fire Force areas.
Many of the photo captions are also poor: no place names or dates, just "a bombed church", "Rescue workers taking a break" etc etc (although the HFRS credit suggests that if the captions were more detailed, they would reveal that most of the photos are of Hampshire too).
This book is a relatively detailed history of Hampshire's fire service (though there's no bibliography or reference sources, archive details etc) but not a national history - as the sub-title suggests - of the AFS/NFS. The privately produced AFS/NFS books by Hickin are more detailed and useful as a reference work.
After 70 years, there has still not been a proper detailed narrative history of the AFS/NFS: Sir Arthur Dixon's unpublished official history of the wartime AFS/NFS lies languishing in the National Archives: it's high time it should be aired!
The author's slant - his previous two books were about Hampshire during the war - gives the impression that most of the fire service action took place in Hampshire and there's actually very little in the book about where the AFS/NFS saw the most action - London!
Although the information on the Canadian fire-fighters in Britain was interesting - you guessed it, many of whom were based in Hampshire - with all due respect, the story takes up two chapters of the book, as opposed to any detail of the types of various fire service vehicles, pumps etc, which were used all over Britain, which are barely mentioned. For a book that is supposedly about "Britain's" fire service, there's not even a national map of all the various Fire Force areas.
Many of the photo captions are also poor: no place names or dates, just "a bombed church", "Rescue workers taking a break" etc etc (although the HFRS credit suggests that if the captions were more detailed, they would reveal that most of the photos are of Hampshire too).
This book is a relatively detailed history of Hampshire's fire service (though there's no bibliography or reference sources, archive details etc) but not a national history - as the sub-title suggests - of the AFS/NFS. The privately produced AFS/NFS books by Hickin are more detailed and useful as a reference work.
After 70 years, there has still not been a proper detailed narrative history of the AFS/NFS: Sir Arthur Dixon's unpublished official history of the wartime AFS/NFS lies languishing in the National Archives: it's high time it should be aired!
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Gave informed information in respect of the duties carried out during the war within the fire brigade and
the volunteers that helped
the volunteers that helped
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