Establishment 2000

Crew Level 2004

The Staff are 4 Masters and 1 Mistress.

There are 3 watches of about 12 people and seven of these are designated as the duty crew and are given a pager when on call (they have seven pagers). The Duty Board in the watchroom shows Officer in Charge, Captain of Fire, Watchroom, two Crew Managers and seven Firefighters. (June 2011)

The present machines at Stn 39 are D358VSA and WSE293Y. The D reg. pump arrived in 2000 and is on fire call. The older Y reg. pump is used only for training purposes within the school grounds. (14/1/2002)

The unit does not have BA due to Health and Safety regulations and is not likely to get it. (2004)

GORDONSTOUN SCHOOL FIRE BRIGADE NOTES

During the war the school was evacuated to Llandinan in Montgomeryshire.
The fire brigade was formed by boy Stephen Philip.
The first known vehicle was an Austin seven seater tourer in 1931 which carried an extension ladder, foam extinguisher and 40 gallons of water. This vehicle was later replaced by a 1922 V8 Cadilac and subsequently by an Austin STU which towed a Beresford-Stork trailer pump of Home Office type.
The school returned to Duffas in 1945 and had an Austin STU equipped with a Standard Gwynne pump carried inside the vehicle. It could also tow a Harland large trailer pump if required to.
In 1956 a Fordson motor pump was acquired and this towed a Beresford Stork trailer pump.
In 1964 GXM782? a Dennis motor pump (limosine style) was stationed at the school.
(Notes by Jimmy Slater?)

THE GORDONSTOUN SCHOOL FIRE BRIGADE

By (the Late) Robert F. Boyd

The Brigade was started by a boy at Gordonstoun, Stephen Philip, when during the last war the school had been evacuated to Llandinam, Montgomeryshire. He purchased, out of his own pocket, the first “appliance” a 1931 Austin 7 Tourer, which the members of the newly formed brigade converted for fire fighting. It was equipped with an extension ladder, foam extinguisher, 40 gallons of water, stirrup pump, buckets, 100ft rope, first aid kit, spades and picks, etc., and it also carried a crew!  Later this was replaced by a 1922 V8 Cadillac and additional equipment. Also available to the brigade were a number of delivery hose and hydrant equipment which were positioned around the building.
After considerable hard work and training, an Officer of the National Fire Service, [Column Officer Rowlands], inspected the fire crew and watched their drills.  Having been duly impressed a light Trailer Pump [Beresford-Stork] was allocated to the Brigade, followed by the issue of a Towing Vehicle. Two Masters and a Senior Boy attended the Fire 22 Area Training School at Talycafn, near Colwyn Bay, and they were promoted to the ranks of Section Leader and Leading Firemen.  The Unit was now an official station of the N.F.S. and was manned by the staff and boys during the term and by the local villagers during the holidays, all being officially enrolled members of the N.F.S.
The station attended a number of fires in the area the most notable being in Newtown on 14^th December 1944 to an Admiralty Warehouse which was well alight on arrival.  The Brigade also took part in the Sub-Divisional and Divisional Pump Competitions without disgracing themselves.
In September 1945 the school returned to its home at Duffus, near Elgin and again a station of the N.F.S. was established.  Two Nissen huts were converted for the fire brigade’s use, one to house the appliances, an Austin Towing Vehicle, ‘Harland’ Major Trailer Pump and a ‘Standard Gwynne’ Light Pump that was carried in the rear of the T.V.  In the Summer of 1947 Mr Peter Hunter joined the school, having been a full-time Leading Fireman at Aberdeen and took over the running of the Brigade.
The station attended a number of fires in the area including serious fires at Burnside Farm on 19^th June 1947 and Myreside Farm on 21^st January 1953.  The Brigade also visits the nearby Naval Air Station at Lossiemouth and received instruction on aircraft fires which is very necessary owing to the amount of training carried out in the area.
On 15th May 1947 the local authorities took over the N.F.S. and the station now came under the control of the North Eastern Fire Brigade, commanded by Firemaster Ross at Aberdeen.
In January 1956 the school purchased a Fordson S.P. and a Beresford Trailer Pump, the latter being sent to ‘Altyre House’ a separate part of the school near Inverness who formed their own brigade. In 1961 ‘Altyre’ amalgamated with the main school and brought with them their Water Tender and Trailer Pump, and the Appliances and equipment were transferred to a new station, in the newly built ‘Services Centre’.
In the Summer of 1963 a crew from the station were invited to spend nine days at the London Road Training School of the City of Manchester Fire Brigade, by the Chief Fire Officer K.N.Hoare and this has been repeated each year since then and has done a great deal for the encouragement and efficiency of the Brigade.
On May 27^th 1964, Firemaster W. H. Woods issued the station with a 1942 Dennis Self-Propelled Major Pump, GXN 782 to replace the other appliances on the station. On March 17th 1965 a ‘D.X’ Call-Out system was installed and since then all mobilising of the station has been carried out directly from Fire Headquarters Aberdeen.

The above article was published in The Fire Brigade Society journal Fire Cover, No 20 (1967) and is reproduced with the full authority of The Society’s Committee and Editorial Team. (September 2011)

Gordonstoun School Volunteer Fire Unit

Gordonstoun School, situated on the Moray Firth Coast, must be one of the best known Public Schools in Britain and it may seem rather strange that a School having had members of the Royal Family as pupils would encourage both boys and girls to become Volunteer members of a Fire Brigade.
I am certain that a number of our readers must be rather sceptical of young people being able to take a serious role in such a Service as ours. I hope this article may dispel some of their misgivings.
Dr. Kurt Hahn’s (the founder of the School) insistance that young people should be educated to serve the community is never more apparent than in Gordonstoun’s Rescue Services. An important feature of the training given to pupils is that it is designed to meet the needs of the local community; to integrate the School into local affairs, and to foster in their participants a pride in achievement and a sense of belonging. The Fire Service is only one of the many Services that a pupil may join.
The Voluntary unit forms part of Grampian Fire Brigade and responds, during the School term, as an additional appliance to all incidents attended by the Retained Station at Lossiemouth.
The unit comprises fourteen pupils, split almost equally between boys, girls and five Masters. Only one Master forms part of the crew and, as well as being the driver, is the Officer-In-Charge. Pupils become members at the age of 16 after having done a year’s basic training, and then only with their parents consent and undergoing a medical.
The present Officer-In-Charge of the unit is the School’s Chaplain, Canon Montgomery, who has been known to shed his cassock midway through the sermon to become Sub Officer Montgomery at the first sound of the siren.
The unit attends some 60-70 calls per School year. Some pupils have chalked up over 100 calls in the three years that they have been members. Apart from the usual domestic and rural type of fire, some of the more recent incidents were a train derailment at Lhanbryde, an aircraft crash at RAF Lossiemouth and more recently a four pump fire at Duffus House which is part of the School.
The appliance is equipped and maintained by Grampian Fire Brigade and, with the exception of Breathing Apparatus, carries the same equipment as any other Water Tender in the Brigade.
Training is supervised by the Station Officer at Elgin and the Divisional Training Officer. A Wednesday afternoon will see one crew training at Elgin, while the other members of the unit train on a second appliance which is owned by the School and is only used within the School grounds. Combined training does take place with the Retained Station at Lossiemouth in the form of off-station exercises.
There are very few incidents where a girl is not a member of the crew. At first people were surprised to see a girl tackling a fire, though it does take some hard looking to make out the female form wearing fire gear.
This year, Captain of the Fire Service is a girl who has attended over 100 calls and when recently asked by a member of the press what incident particularly stuck in her memory she recalled a rather nasty road traffic accident and when it was suggested that she was too young to experience such macabre accidents she replied — ‘One never enjoys such incidents, it is only when you remember the School motto — there is more in you than you think — that you realise what you are able to do’.
<PHOTO> Gordonstoun School’s team of firefighters and Canon Montgomery, with their fire tender (JSA662F)
<PHOTO> Station 39 Gordonstoun. (Shows GAV574E and JSA662F in the bays)
(Northern Light Edition No.11. Page 25. April 1984)

If you know of any mistakes in this or have any additional information please let me know.

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