fire brigade was laid upon the Metropolitan Board of Works. Under the provisions of the act, the board took over the staff, stations and equipment of the Fire Engine Establishment; the engines maintained by the various parochial authorities, and the men in charge of them were also absorbed by the new organization, as were the fire-escapes and staff of the Society for the Protection of Life from Fire.
The funds provided by the Fire Brigade Act for the maintenance of the brigade were: (1) the produce of a halfpenny rate on all the rateable property in London; (2) contributions by the fire insurance companies at the rate of £35 per million of the gross amount insured by them in respect of property in London; and (3) a contribution of £10,000 a year by the government. Although the revenue allotted increased year by year, its increase was far from keeping pace with the constant calls from all parts of London for protection from fire. Some temporary financial relief was afforded by the Metropolitan Board of Works (Loans) Act 1869, which (1) authorized the interest on borrowed money to be paid, and the principal to be redeemed out of the proceeds of the Metropolitan Consolidated rate, apart from the halfpenny allocated for fire brigade purposes; and (2) provided that the amount to be raised for the annual working expenditure on the brigade should be equal to what would be produced by a halfpenny in the pound on the gross annual value of property, instead of, as before, on the rateable value. One result of the passing of the Local Government Act 1888 (by which the London County Council was constituted), under which a county rate for all purposes is levied, was virtually to repeal the limitation of the amount which might be raised from the ratepayers for fire brigade purposes. Since that time the expenditure on the brigade has therefore, like that of other departments of the council’s service, been determined solely by what the council has judged to be the requirements of the case.
When the council came into existence early in 1889 the fire brigade was admittedly not large enough properly to protect the whole of London, the provision in various suburban districts being notoriously inadequate to the requirements. A plan for enlarging and improving old stations, and for carrying out a scheme of additional protection laid down after careful consideration of the needs of London as a whole, was approved on the 8th of February 1898 (and somewhat enlarged in 1901); it provided for the placing of horsed escapes at existing fire stations, for the establishment of some 22 additional stations provided with horsed escapes, and for the discontinuance of nearly all the fire-escape and hose-cart stations in the public thoroughfares.
Since it came into existence the London County Council has established additional fire stations at Dulwich, New Cross, Kingsland, Whitefriars, Lewisham, Shepherd’s Bush, West Hampstead, East Greenwich, Perivale, Homerton, Highbury, Vauxhall, Pageant’s Wharf (Rotherhithe), Streatham, Kilburn, Bayswater, Eltham, Burdett Road (Mile End), Wapping, Northcote Road (Battersea), Herne Hill, Lee Green and North End (Fulham). Of these, Vauxhall, Kilburn, Bayswater, Eltham, Burdett Road, Herne Hill and North End stations are sub-stations. New stations have been erected, in substitution for small and inconvenient buildings, at Wandsworth, Shoreditch, Fulham, Brompton, Islington, Paddington, Redcross Street (City), Euston Road, Clapham, Mile End, Deptford, Old Kent Road, Millwall, Kensington, Westminster, Brixton and Cannon Street (City), and the existing stations at Kennington, Rotherhithe, Clerkenwell, Hampstead, Battersea, Whitechapel, Greenwich and Stoke Newington have been considerably enlarged. Two small stations without horses have been established in Battersea Park Road and North Woolwich respectively. A building has been erected at Rotherhithe for the accommodation of the staff of the Cherry-garden river station; and another building has been erected at Battersea for the accommodation of the staff of a river station which has been established there.
In 1909 new stations in substitution for existing stations were in course of erection at Knightsbridge and Tooting, and additional sub-stations were being erected at Plumstead and Hornsey Rise. The Bethnal Green station was being considerably altered and enlarged. The council had also determined to erect new stations in substitution for existing inconvenient buildings at Holloway, Waterloo Road, Shooter’s Hill and North End, Fulham; and to build additional sub-stations at Charlton, Caledonian Road, Brixton Hill, Camberwell New Road, Roehampton, Balham, Brockley and Earlsfield.
Budapest.—There is a combination of a professional force and a volunteer force at Budapest, and in addition an auxiliary service of factory fire brigades. The professional fire brigade possesses a central station and eight sub-stations, two minor stations, and permanent theatre-watchrooms at the royal theatres. The staff (in 1901) of the professional brigade consisted of a chief officer, an inspector, a senior adjutant and two junior adjutants, a clerk, and further 23 warrant officers, 3 engineers, 15 foremen, 154 firemen and 30 coachmen with 62 horses. There have been some slight increases since. The apparatus at their disposal consists of 6 steam fire-engines, 22 manual engines, 27 small manual engines, 11 water carts, 13 traps, 4 tenders, 26 hose reels and hose carts, 5 long ladders, 9 ordinary extension ladders, 34 hook ladders, 12 smoke helmets and 22,000 metres of hose. The various stations are connected with the central station by private telephone lines. There are 149 telephonic fire alarms distributed throughout the city. They are on radial lines connected up with their respective nearest stations, and on a single radial line there are from three to seventeen call-points.
The volunteer brigade has an independent constitution and comprises some eighty members. Its equipment is housed with that of the professional brigade, and is bought and maintained by the municipality. This volunteer brigade is a comparatively wealthy institution, having a capital of 100,000 crowns, whilst receiving a special subsidy annually from the municipality. Though legally an entirely independent institution, the brigade voluntarily puts itself under the command of the chief officer of the professional brigade. It further puts daily at the disposal of the professional fire chief ten men who do duty every night and “turn out” when called upon to render service. This volunteer brigade stands as a kind of model to the other volunteer brigades, and it is in connexion with this volunteer brigade that the educational classes referred to above are held and facilities accorded to the officers undergoing instruction to gain experience at the Budapest fires.
The Budapest professional fire brigade, even if assisted by the volunteer force, would scarcely be of adequate strength to deal with the great factory risks of that city were it not that the Budapest factories and mills have a splendidly organized service of factory fire brigades. These brigades—forty-four in number—are essentially private institutions, intended to render self-help in the factories to which they belong, but they are well organized, and have a mutual understanding whereby the neighbouring brigades of any one factory immediately turn out and assist in case of need. These factory brigades have a total staff of 1600 men. They are equipped with 1 steam fire-engine, 57 large manuals, 136 small manuals, and have a very considerable amount of small gear, including 15 smoke helmets.
Cologne.—The Cologne professional fire brigade is 153 strong (1906), with a chief officer, a second officer, and two divisional officers, a warrant officer, a telegraph superintendent and 16 foremen. The brigade has 26 horses, of which 2, however, are used for ambulance purposes. The brigade has three large stations and a minor station, and has a permanent fire-watch at the two municipal theatres. Men are told off for duty as coachmen among the firemen. The staff do forty-eight hours of duty to twenty-four hours of rest.
A peculiarity of the Cologne organization is its auxiliary retained fire brigade in two sections, comprising a superintendent, 2 deputy superintendents, 5 foremen, and 51 men, with 2 horses, who are retained men housed in municipal buildings (tenements), and available as an immediate reserve force. The first section of the reserve force are housed centrally.
There is a further system of suburban volunteer fire brigades manned by volunteers but equipped by the municipality, and horsed from the municipal stables or municipal tramways. Three of these volunteer brigades, which have large suburban districts, comprise each a superintendent, 2 senior foremen and 3 junior foremen, with 50 firemen and 3 coachmen. The minor outlying suburbs have several such brigades, each having one senior foreman, 3 junior foremen, 20 firemen and 2 coachmen. The combined force of the suburban volunteer brigades is 295, all ranks.
