National Fire Service

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The National Fire Service (NFS) was the single fire service created in Great Britain in 1941 during the Second World War; a separate National Fire Service (Northern Ireland) was created in 1942.^[1]

The NFS was created in August 1941 by the amalgamation of the wartime national Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) and the local authority fire brigades (about 1,600 of them). It existed until 1948, when it was again split by the Fire Services Act 1947, with fire services reverting to local authority control, although this time there were far fewer brigades, with only one per county and county borough.

The NFS had both full-time and part-time members, male and female. Its uniform was the traditional dark blue double-breasted tunic, and it adopted the peaked cap worn by the AFS instead of the peakless sailor-style cap which had been worn by many pre-war fire brigades (including the London Fire Brigade). The peaked cap was retained by fire services after the war.

When they were on duty, but in the frequent long stretches between calls, many firemen and firewomen performed vital wartime manufacturing work, in workshops in the fire stations or adjacent to them. This was entirely voluntary, but since many of the wartime personnel had worked in factories before the war it was work with which they were familiar and skilled.

The Chief of the Fire Staff and Inspector-in-Chief throughout the war (until 28 February 1947, when he retired) was Sir Aylmer Firebrace, former Chief Officer of the London Fire Brigade.

At peak strength the NFS had 370,000 personnel, including 80,000 women. The women were mostly employed on administrative duties.

The NFS was divided into about forty Fire Forces. These were subdivided into Divisions. Each Division had two Columns and each Column had five Companies.

[edit] Ranks

National Fire Service Ranks[2]
Men		Women		Police equivalent[3]
Rank	Number in April 1947	Rank	Number in April 1947	London	Outside London
Fireman		Firewoman		Constable	Constable
Leading Fireman		Leading Firewoman
Section Leader		Senior Leading Firewoman		Sergeant	Sergeant
Company Officer	1,100	Assistant Group Officer	50	Inspector	Inspector
Senior Company Officer	250	Group Officer	27	Sub-Divisional Inspector	Chief Inspector
Column Officer	382	Assistant Area Officer	1	Chief Inspector	Superintendent
Divisional Officer	194	Area Officer	11	Superintendent	Chief Superintendent
Assistant Fire Force Commander	52	Regional Woman Fire Officer	3	Deputy Commander
Fire Force Commander	53			Commander
Chief Regional Fire Officer
Senior Staff Officer
Inspector
Chief of the Fire Staff & Inspector-in-Chief	1

[edit] Notable members

Members of the NFS who were well-known in civilian life (or later became so) included:

• A. L. Barker, writer (NFS telephonist)
• Robert Buhler, artist
• Cyril Demarne, writer
• Joseph Levy, property developer and estate agent (served in London; won the British Empire Medal for bravery while on duty)
• Brian Moore, writer (1941–1942; served in Belfast)
• Ernest Race, furniture designer
• George Rudé, historian (served in London)
• Audrey Russell, radio broadcaster (1941–1942)
• William Sansom, writer
• Sir Stephen Spender, writer (1941–1944)
• Phyllis Stedman, Baroness Stedman, politician (1941–1944; Group Officer in Derbyshire)
• Irene Thomas, radio personality (1941–1944)

[edit] Footnotes