Abbey Brigade quells Fort Augustus outbreak

Fort Augustus Abbey Fire Brigade were called out yesterday afternoon to quell a grass fire which at one time threatened houses in the Lovat Terrace district of Fort Augustus. Under the direction of Rev. Father Maurus Whitehead (bursar) the team of fire fighting monks and other helpers put the fire out in an hour.
(Inverness Courier, Friday, March 1 1963. Page 7.)

St. Benedict's Abbey, Fort Augustus.

Upgraded 1999 was Mobile Vol. unit A45.

Fort Augustus Abbey closed 1998.

With the new brigade structure introduced in the summer of 2003 the 3 Divisions were re-organised into 2 Commands North and South, Fort Augustus was put into South Command. Call signs remained the same.

Fort Augustus had a call sign of A10 in The Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service, this was changed to S38, the new National Call Sign, when the Control at Inverness closed on 6/12/2016 and moved to Dundee.

2/7/2024 The Water Carrier moved to Fort Augustus from Inverness.

Crew at 2004

Abbey’s old engine takes on charity role

A fire engine once crewed by monks at Fort Augustus Abbey has been given a new lease of life helping sick children after being saved from a Fife scrapyard.
The 1983 Bedford van was crewed by Fort Augustus’s volunteer firefighters in the 1980s when the Abbey-based unit maintained the tradition of being led by a monk. It was still in use in 1989 when the Abbey’s last fire-fighting friar, Father Benedict Seed, stepped down as unit Sub Officer.
The vehicle later went on to serve other volunteer firefighters, first at Strontian, before returning to Loch Ness-side where it was used by the Drumnadrochit unit. Retired from active service in 2002, it faced the scrapheap until former firefighter John Stewart of Sheffield saw it for sale on the internet.
Mr Stewart, now a civilian worker with South Yorkshire Police, has restored several redundant fire engines over the last 20 years but had considered himself retired from the hobby until a friend alerted him to the sale of the Highland fire engine.
“Because it was a bit different, I decided to go for it,” he declared. “It’s a nice dinky little machine. It deserves to be saved. There was someone else bidding for it —an ex-fireman. He wasn’t particularly bothered about not getting it, he just didn’t want to see it scrapped.
It was only after he had collected the fire engine from Scotland and took it to Yorkshire that Mr Stewart discovered its ecclesiastic connections.
“1 got the vehicle at the end of September and, over the winter, I’ve been doing what little jobs I can,” he said. “Then, a few months after I bought it, this photocopied article from The Courier arrives with a story about the last monk to be a firefighter.
“What a fantastic piece of history! How many fire engines were crewed by a monk?”
Mr Stewart has since learned more about the vehicle’s history and has even visited Highland & Islands Fire Service headquarters in Inverness where he was granted permission to restore it to its original livery and was given brigade decals to assist in the process.
He was also given an explanation of why the fire engine, with just 14,000 miles on the clock, had fallen victim to extensive rusting.
“You’ve got to bear in mind that you southern softies are used to motorways,” a Highland firefighter told him. “With this appliance, the first five miles would have been road then, after that, they’re off down a track somewhere.”
The Kirkcaldy scrapyard selling the appliance removed the pump and other fire-fighting equipment —and that extensive rust damage meant Mr Stewart had to replace several body pants, including the wings. But it is now ready for a re-spray and will make its first public appearance at the end of April at the Cleethorpes Emergency Services Show.
“We have a Fireman Sam outfit and a collecting tin from Sheffield Children’s Hospital,” Mr Stewart explained. “We go to all these galas with the fire engines so the kids can drop a few pennies in the tin for Fireman Sam.”
He has only begun collecting for the Sheffield hospital relatively recently, but previously raised about £15,000 for Derbyshire Children’s Hospital.
<PHOTO> The former Highland and Islands Fire Brigade vehicle is being restored and given a role raising funds to help sick children. (A861OAS).
(Unknown newspaper article.)

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