BARNOLDSWICK FIRE BRIGADE

[Stanley]

Barnoldswick Fire Brigade

With the formation of the Barnoldswick Urban District Council in 1890, the first fire brigade equipment was purchased in the form of two hand carts, ladders, hose and buckets. A place to house this equipment had to be found, eventually two sheds were purchased for this purpose, one being located in Long Ing, the other at Jepp Hill near the Town Hall.

On 28 October 1913 at a meeting of the council a request for £2,420 was made for a fire station and fire engine, the following year a new fire station made of wood was erected at Damside and a new fire engine purchased this being a Merryweather steam appliance drawn by two horses.

The station at Damside soon became inadequate, so at a Urban District Council meeting on 31 May 1921 it was decided to ask the local Government board and Ministry of Health for the loan of £1,200 for land to build a new fire station, but it was not until 25 April 1924 that the Minister of Health gave approval for the borrowing of £1,200 for land plus £972 for the purchase of a motor fire engine and £768 for the construction of a fire station. Later that year the new fire station was completed, situated in Wellhouse Road (on the same site as the existing station). In September of the same year a new Morris-Guy motor fire appliance was delivered, and housed in the new station along with the steamer, which was kept as spare.

In 1925 the council bought a house, number 11 Co-operative Street directly behind the fire station, in which were installed a switchboard enabling calls to be sent by means of an electrical system simultaneously to each fireman. This house being occupied by the Captain of the brigade.
The Brigade covered an area of 2764 acres with a population in 1925 of 13,000 (estimated).
In 1942 an Austin ATV arrived to supplement the towns appliances.

The old fire station in Wellhouse Road had changed little since its erection in 1924, plans were drawn up for a new station to be built on the site of the existing station, somewhere had to be found to house the fire engines whilst the new station was being built, permission was given by Wild Bros Ltd a local haulage firm to use part of their garage in valley road as a temporary fire station.
A new two bay Fire Station costing £11,500 was officially opened by on 21 May 1958 by Wing Commander Knowles-Fitton a member of the county fire committee.

09 March 1970 saw a new fire appliance delivered to Barnoldswick, this differed form all previous fire engines seen in the locality in one outstanding respect, gone was the traditional red livery, the new appliance was white, a colour preferred by the West Riding County Fire Service because of its high visibility at night. The appliance a Dennis F46 water tender ladder powered by a 235 BHP Rolls-Royce petrol engine. This appliance continued to give excellent service for 19 years, it is now preserved by staff at Great Harwood Fire Station.

01 April 1974 under local government reorganisation Barnoldswick swapped the white rose of Yorkshire for the red of Lancashire, subsequently the fire brigade in the town became part of the Lancashire County Fire Brigade.
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[Whyperion]

Photo from geograph.org.uk of current fire station.

[Stanley]

It's funny the things that crop up when you start to enquire about subjects like the fire brigade. From conversations with some of the Wild Bunch I learned that the biggest factor affecting the speed of turn-out in the old days was how easy the horses were to catch! I was also told a scurrilous story about a fat member of the brigade who lived on Wellhouse Road. He was so fat he couldn't reach his bottom to wipe it so he used to go into the house and stand in front of the fire while his wife attended to it for him. Apologies for that but it's a subject that I have come across before. See Tom Bower's biography of Maxwell the Bouncing Cheque.