Fire Brigade Medal for Valour SO T McMurtrie, Fireman J Holt - [download PDF]
 The Citation reads,
“On the occasion of a fire in Rose Street on 7th October 1936 at 2.42am, Station Officer Thomas McMurtrie and Second Class Fireman John Holt displayed great coolness and vcourage in attempting to rescue Alexander Simpson, 70 years of age, who was found suffocated in a back bedroom, and for their gallantry have been awarded a Bronze Medal each, suitably inscribed, by The Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire.
Their task on this occasion required great presence of mind and they had to work in a suffocating atmosphere with great personal danger”.
 This piece of equipment was designed and developed by Alex Hume in 1930. Alex was an Edinburgh fireman, who had worked in an engineering environment prior to joining the Edinburgh Fire Brigade.
The ground monitor was carried on the Brigade’s limousines and was used when large quantities of water were required over a long period or in circumstances where it would be too dangerous for branchmen to operate.
Various sizes of nozzles could be fitted depending on how much water was required, and by the use of adaptors it could be fed by larger diameters of hose.The monitors used by the Brigade were manufactured by Barton and Co., Engineers based at Forrest Hill in Edinburgh.
Spare monitors were also held on Stations and a later date on an appliance named a Monitor Wagon was constructed at Brigade Workshops.
 Edinburgh trams were fitted with a device, which scooped up anyone unfortunate enough to be hit by a tramcar or to remove anybody from the tracks.
This consisted of hinged wooden slats and a wooden floored area under the driver’s cabin. When operated by a person being knocked down by the tram the hinged section moved backwards and allowed the person or object to be scooped up and deposited on the wooden boards under the cabin.
The Jacks were held at various stations throughout the city and when required were brought to the scene of the accident and fitted to the front of the tram allowing it to be jacked up, thus facilitating the rescue by firemen of the trapped person. In most cases, the casualties escaped with minor injuries.
Perhaps we should reconsider a re-issue if the new trams are designed with a similar safety feature.
 The smoke helmet was designed to allow firefighters to enter buildings which were smoke logged, to carry out rescues or firefighting duties.
The equipment which was manufactured by Siebe Gorman consisted of a leather helmet fitted with an openable visor, a leather seal and ties, and a exhalation valve.Air was fed to the helmet by an armoured air hose supplied by bellows which could be operated by a foot pedal or a hand lever.
On the bellows was a plate with the following instructions -
One hoot – ‘Help’, Two Hoots – ‘More air, Three Hoots – ‘Less air’.
A bulb and reed car horn was provided.
In later models though, a speaking tube was incorporated in the air hose, thus allowing direct communication with the bellows operator.
If a good operator was on the bellows, the visor could be opened thus allowing the firefighter greater vision, the air pressure in the helmet keeping the smoke from affecting the wearer.
Although effective in allowing firefighting or reconnaissance being carried out, the depth of entry into a building was determined by the length of the air hose.
This equipment was superceeded by the introduction of self contained oxygen breathing apparatus.
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