Sunderland had its own Fire Brigade until the formation of Tyne and Wear Metropolitan Fire Brigade on the 1st April 1974 when local and county Fire Brigades amalgamated.
Sunderland and South Shields, who worked fairly close together were very passionate in their defence of there Fire Brigades and I have no doubt that other amalgamated Brigades were exactly the same.
Central Station Sunderland on fire.
Joplings Fire
Gallery - Fires in Sunderland
Havelock House
If we were to go back to the end of the 19th century we would find that the coastal town of Sunderland was rapidly expanding . Shipbuilding, coal mining, glass and paper making and a wealth of other engineering and industrial processes were popping up everywhere. Fawcett Street, was the epicentre for the supporting businesses Many properties were 3 and 4 storey would have accommodation on the upper floors.
In 1868, George Henry Robinson owned as drapery store in High Street East and he later moved to a much larger building known as the Havelock House, situated at the junction of Fawcett Street and High Street West.
In the late evening of Saturday 18th July 1898, a fire occurred which proved the arrangements and equipment for fighting fires in Sunderland were wholly inadequate. A fire broke out in George Henry Robinson's Havelock House, at the junction of Fawcett Street and High Street West, which led to the destruction and damage to 12 business premises in High Street West, 11 premises in Fawcett Street, 22 shops, offices and a Weslyan Chapel in John Street, and, 3 shops in Bridge Street.
Adapted with kind permission from Jim Bryce.
Read Jim's book on Sunderland Fire Brigade
Having served in Sunderland I recall some of the incidents listed below.
Sunderland Shipbuilders
In March 1977 the Brigade turned out to Sunderland Shipbuilders at North Sands Yard where the keel blocks under a ship under construction caught fire. 150 crews turned out from all over the division and further with 15 Pumps, Turntable Ladder ( TL ) , Emergency Tender ( ET ) and a Foam Tender ( FoT ) . Brought under control fairly quickly thanks to the crews but it wash 36 hours later before the stop message ( fire out ) would be made due to small pockets of fire flashing up.
Zhivagos Night Club
In January 1979 the crews fron
Sunderland Central ( November call sign ) would turn out to a major fire
in High Street involving Discount for Beauty and the Night Club above (
Znivagos ). Believed to have started in the Beauty shop below it soon
engulfed the nightclub above.
Crews outside were very lucky when, the complete shop front would blow out. Crews wearing breathing apparatus ( B A ) tackled the fire fire on the first floor and prevented the fire spreading to nearby shops in the High Street. Using the Hydraulic Platform ( H P ) another crew initially hit the fire in the nightclub with water from the monitor.
Gallery - Fires in Sunderland
Crews outside were very lucky when, the complete shop front would blow out. Crews wearing breathing apparatus ( B A ) tackled the fire fire on the first floor and prevented the fire spreading to nearby shops in the High Street. Using the Hydraulic Platform ( H P ) another crew initially hit the fire in the nightclub with water from the monitor.
St Peters Church Monkwearmouth
Very close to my heart was the 9 pumper at our family church in March 1984. Nine pumping appliances, together with a turntable ladder ( TL )and the ermergency tender ( ET ) turned out to a roof fire in the church. Initially the fire was tackled via a 45ft ladder ( Lacon ) where crews removed slates to gain access to to roof fire. The next crews that arrived tackled the fire from within the church, bieng very aware of falling slates and molten lead.
The Suite Centre
On the 12th December 1991 the Suite Centre in Toward Road went up bellowing heavy smoke and fumes from the furniture. Hundreds of gallons of water was pumped into the building via the Tuntable Ladder. The T L was supported by a further 8 pumps, a second T.L. , the Incident Command Unit ( I C U ) and the Salvage Tender ( S T ) . I was not at this incident until the following morning when our shift would be " damping down and looking for hotspots". Their would have been some disappointed customers expecting their settee ready for Santa coming that year.
