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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Sir,
The published photograph of Eston UDC Fire Brigade of 1922 (page 10 Saved Edition No. 20) looks very like the forecourt of Eston Cottage Hospital but since it was demolished several years ago, it is not possible to confirm it.
I am glad the record of the existence of the RAF at Moreton up to 1959, because I am sure most will know that the Fire Service were training men from 1956 onwards.
It was during the Cold War, when there was a possibility of atom bomb attacks on this country's cities that the government decided to upgrade the civil defence by training mobile columns of firefighters.
There were many RAF reservists whose services would not be needed in the event of an atomic war (which would only last a short time) so they were trained into mobile fire columns to be stationed outside major cities and after the atom bomb had dropped they would proceed to the target area and try to save what they could.
The first year of elementary training was at Washington Hall at Chorley and I went there as an Instructor in 1955. The following year Moreton opened and I went there several weeks before the first reservists appeared. (We kitted out the Green Goddess machines and erected fibreglass dams, etc).
In 1965 the trainees had changed from RAF reservists to Territorial Army men, and although Moreton was still our HQ, the training was at Devizes in Wiltshire (I was a senior instructor there). In 1966 the Cold War had warmed up and no more training was done.. the Green Goddess machines were then used for civil use during the 1977 firemen's strike.
However, from 1958 to 1959 I was seconded to Cyprus during the 'civil unrest' (as the government called it) and most of the fire appliances were Green Goddesses painted red. I found these very useful attending fires in the mountainous regions of Troodos and Kyrenia, as they were all of the four wheel drive type.
When I mentioned that my first visit to Moreton was in the rear turret of a Wellington bomber in 1944, I got strange looks and a muttered, 'Most people come here by train, bus or motor car!!'
E Reynolds
Co Durham.
* * * * * * *
Sir,
Reference: Inside Front Cover, Edition No 20, 1928
Volvo LV Series 1 Pump
May I mention a point of detail on the
photograph of this vehicle.
The hose carried on the side reels is 1½"
Canvas Delivery Hose with lugless couplings, not hose reel
tubing.
Even at this date it was common practice
in Europe and the USA to stow delivery hose on similar reels,
so that they could be lifted off the pump and the hose run
out by two men or women.
Frank E Whitnall
Southport.
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