Edinburgh Fire Establishment-Helmets 1861 - [download PDF]
 By 1861 most Brigades were wearing the Brass Helmet which had a comb surmounted with dragons on it.
On the front of it was the Edinburgh Coat of Arms. The principal charge is Edinburgh Castle, the anchor crest over the helm is said to refer to the ex officio title of Admiral of the Forth held by the Lord Provost.
The dexter support may be a Pictish Princess; the sinister support is the Doe of St. Giles, the patron saint of Edinburgh. The Latin motto - Nisi Dominus Frustra is an abridgement of Psalm 127 verse 1-Except the Lord keep the City, Watchmen waketh but in vain.
The motto is short for - It is vain without the Lord. The title Edinburgh Fire Brigade is situated below the Coat of Arms. A plain brass curtain is fitted all round, the brass chain chin strap is mounted on leather.
Edinburgh Fire Establishment-Helmets 1824 - [download PDF]
 In the formation of the Edinburgh Fire Establishment in 1824, it was agreed that instead of the helmets used by the Insurance Fire Brigade that a new helmet would be designed and issued.
These were made of leather and were based on the shape of a New Zealand Maori war helmet. Each man’s helmet was painted in the colour of his Station and Engine. Red for the High Street Station, Yellow for Rose Street Station, West Port Station was Black and Braid Place Station on the southern outskirts of the city was Grey.
The Fire Brigade Association Long Service Medal - [download PDF]
 Sergeant T McMurtrie
The Fire Brigade Association Long Service 1885
- Sergeant T McMurtrie was born in 1836 and raised in Stockbridge, Edinburgh. He became a joiner by trade and joined the Fire Brigade in 1857, where he became Sergeant of the Stockbridge Station. On his retiral, he was the last man in the Brigade to assist at the rescue of the occupants of the tenement which fell in the High Street in 1861 – “Heave Awa Hoose”.
Presented by T McMurtrie, Edinburgh
Corporation Gallantry Medal Cpt. W Martin, David Tait - [download PDF]
 Greenside Accident 1877
- These medals were two of the 20 presented to firemen who attended the fire and subsequent collapse of the building at Greenside Street in December 1877.
The fire swept through the upper floors of the Commercial Hotel, this was extinguished by the firemen but early next morning the tenement to the rear of the hotel collapsed.
Six people were killed and many others trapped in the ruins, the rescues and recovery of the bodies continued over an extended period under very hazardous conditions.
The breathing apparatus most commonly used by the Fire Service, prior to the introduction of the compressed air breathing apparatus, was the Proto one-hour oxygen breathing apparatus. A two-hour version of this set was also used by Mines Rescue due to the distances they had to travel underground.
In the Edinburgh Fire Brigade these sets were initially hung in the rear of the Engine Room, only to be used when considered essential and in exceptional circumstances, as personnel were expected to be ‘Smoke Eaters’ and the use of B.A. (breathing apparatus) was not encouraged.
Later, when the change in materials used in buildings and furnishings made their use essential due to the type of fumes and smoke produced in fires, the need for B.A. was more widely accepted. Two sets were carried on each pumping appliance and crews encouraged to use them. Even then they were used sparingly due to the time it took to service the sets after a fire, which was not popular.
 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.
These lamps (circa 1890) are from a
fire engine based at the paper mill in
Inverurie.
When the paper mill was acquired by an
American company, the engine was exported
there.
These lamps are also fitted to the Halley fire engine. The lamps were presented by Mrs Margaret Ferris of Scone, Perthshire (daughter of the
engineer in charge of the the Fire Engine, who
restored the lamps.)
 The Jump Sheet consists of a circular sheet of canvas about 10ft across, fitted with a number of hand beckets spaced about 12 inches apart round the edge of the sheet.
The construction particularly in the method of strengthening the sheet varied slightly. Made by hand, a typical example was from 24 inch widths of canvas into a circle of around 10ft diameter. Two strengthening bands of the same material were sewn across the diameter and an additional centrepiece about 36 inches was sewn in. The circumference was additionally strengthened by a rope sewn into the seam of the canvas and was fitted with 24 hand beckets around the rim of the sheet.
The jumping sheet would only be used when no other means of rescue was available, or when it was feared that the person to be rescued would jump or could not wait. Apart from their normal use, they were sometimes used as a body removal sheet.
Because of the large number of firefighters needed to man the sheet, they were only used as a last resort, but in the Edinburgh Fire Brigade were often part of drill displays at Lauriston.
The sheets were withdrawn from service in the 1950’s but no records have been kept about their main use as a rescue appliance.
 Multiplex Nozzle
Patented by Firemaster Pordage in 1896. Made from polished gun metal and brass. Available to purchase to other Fire Services from Merryweather for two pounds ten shillings (£2.50p).
This nozzle was used extensively by the Edinburgh Fire Brigade, and could be fitted to a normal “A” type branch, it gave a choice of three nozzle sizes 3/8”, 13/16” and 1”. This was patented and allowed a change of nozzle size without disconnecting the nozzle from the branch, very useful when dealing with embers or damping down after a large fire.
 Basement Nozzle
This nozzle is a revolving nozzle which is more compact than the multiplex nozzle. The nozzle has 12 jet orifices set at different angles, for both rotation and spreading purposes and revolves on ball bearings.
This type of revolving nozzle has a standard female nozzle thread to enable it to be attached to any standard branch, and is sufficiently compact to be used for lowering through small apertures, such as a hole cut in a floor or through a ship’s ventilator.
The nozzle was used mainly to fight ship hold fires where an all round cooling effect was required.
 The Scaling Ladder was in use from the late 1890s, until the 1950s.
It is a tapering ladder fitted with two steel or gunmetal brackets outside the strings at the head, and two similar brackets inside the strings at the heel; these are for the purpose of shipping another ladder at either end, each ladder being identical and interchangeable.
The ladder is about 6ft.6in. long and weighs approximately 21lb. The rounds are secured to the strings with gunmetal sockets. The head is 3½inch narrower than the heel of the ladder, it may be strengthened by tie rods ¼ inch in diameter passed through the rounds and secured on the outside of the strings with round gunmetal tapered nuts. Scaling Ladders are short, light and compact; being readily portable they are easily carried through narrow spaces, doorways, passages and stairways, and are convenient for entering ships’ holds or manholes. In the Edinburgh Fire Brigade they were carried inside the limousines on special brackets.
Speaking Trumpet | Megaphone | Figurine - [download PDF]
 Speaking Trumpet - This was presented to Robert H McKay of Edinburgh by the
Vienna Fire Company No1 of Ontario, Canada as a token of their
esteem, May 24th 1860.
Presented to the Museum of Fire by Madeline Currie of Homecrag
House (last living relative of Robert H McKay).
Megaphone - This was introduced to Edinburgh Fire Brigade by Firemaster Peter Methven (1927-1941) and was used by him when conducting drills in Lauriston Station yard, or when giving orders at large fires.
Figurine - Shows an American firefighter
using a trumpet sometimes called a
Bullhorn by American and Canadian
Brigades.
In the book ‘Last man down’
Battalion Commander Richard
Picciotto used a modern version
of the Bullhorn to try to attract the
rescuers when he and the other
firefighters were trapped by the
collapse of the Twin Towers in New
York. The modern version has a siren
fitted to it. |
