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 Buckets have been used for firefighting since they first evolved as a means of transporting water. Various materials have been used to manufacture these, namely canvas, leather, metal and now plastic.
They were mainly used in bucket chains to provide water directly on to a fire or to prime manual pumps and maintain a continuous supply. In Edinburgh they were housed in Town Guard Stations, at the Weigh House (Tron), St Giles and the Tolbooth, and also in sheds near the town wells situated in the Royal Mile.
In 1703 the Council ordered 300 leather buckets to be distributed to designated areas, in addition to this buckets were held at Insurance Company offices and Fire Stations.The buckets on show in the Museum of Fire are the standard metal and leather issues and two belonging to the Edinburgh Fire Establishment (E.F.E.) dating from 1825.
It was common practice to show the Insurance logo’s crests on the buckets and the E.F.E. ones are embossed with the manual pump letters E.F.E. Modern use is mainly for chimney fires and in conjunction with a stirrup pump. |
