In 19 the Establishment at Lauriston was 1 Station Officer, 1 Sub Officer, 2 Leading Firemen and 12 Firemen per watch (4 watches).

Establishment 2000

The Establishment is split over 4 watches, Red, White, Blue and Green working an average of 42 hours per week on a 2 days, 2 nights and 4 days off rota.
The first appliance is one of the two Line Rescue Units in the Brigade. (2007)

Establishment 2018

The Establishment is split over 5 watches, Red, White, Blue, Green and Amber working an average of 42 hours per week on a 2 days, 2 nights and 4 days off rota for 7 tours then 18 days off.
The Rescue Pumps are crewed 5 and 4, the TL is crewed by 2 and the BA Van by 1 Ff.

Tollcross had a call sign of 30 in Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service, this was changed to K07, the new National Call Sign on 3/5/2017.

THE NEW CENTRAL FIRE STATION EDINBURGH

The new Central Fire Station, Edinburgh, built on a portion of the Lauriston Cattle Market, will be formally opened on Thursday next. Designed by Mr Morham, City Superintendent of Works, and arranged by the architect in consultation with Firemaster Pordage, this imposing building is on a scale vastly larger and superior in every way to what has hitherto been regarded as necessary for a fire station in a city like Edinburgh. But it had been proved to the satisfaction of the Town Council, before embarking on the enterprise, that Edinburgh had outgrown the arrangements which were sufficient for a quarter of a century ago, and certainly, as far as one can see from a survey of the place, the considerable sum of money voted for buildings and equipment has been well expended, and that in the new establishment at Lauriston the ratepayers have a fire station which will meet the requirements of the city for many years to come. It includes not only the necessary engine houses and workshops, but houses for men of the brigade, and from the point of view of appliances for the saving of time in summoning and starting the brigade on the call of fire, everything is of the most modern and up to date character. Architect and Firemaster have gone on the “touch the electric button” principle, and the number of things these automatic arrangements can do are really remarkable, and from a most interesting study in applied mechanics.
The establishment occupies an area of 2609 square yards taken off the south west side of the Cattle Market; it has a frontage of 256 feet, extending chiefly along Lauriston Street; it is three storeys in height except at two places, where an attic floor has been imposed; and it was estimated to cost, inclusive of site, £35,600, which it is expected will not be exceeded. The whole of the fire station, offices, and workshops are on the ground floor; the houses for the officers and men are above. The style of architecture is a form of modern renaissance, adapted to the requirements of the establishment. On the lower floor a prominent feature is a series of bold arches, used for doorways and windows. In the angle facing Lauriston Place oriel windows are thrown out on the first and second floors; this part of the building is finished at the wall head with an ornamental balustrade, and dominating all is a tall tower 129 feet in height, with certain ornamental features, from which a splendid outlook can be had over the city on all sides except that which is blocked by the Castle rock. The primary purposes of the tower are for drying the hose and testing the engines as to the height they can throw water over a building. The Hall where the fire engines are kept is a spacious and well lighted apartment 54 feet wide by 38 feet deep, floored with clinker, lined with white enamel bricks, and with a pitch pine ceiling. It opens on the street by means of four archways, each 9 feet in width, and while the rest of the building is of a warm sandstone, this part has been faced with granite, which will stand more wear and tear. The engine hall will contain four fire machines, and at the back are the stables, the arrangements connected with which for the smart horsing of the engines will be afterwards referred to. Proceeding along Lauriston Street is the public entrance to the fire station, in the hall of which is a telephone switchboard connected with the National Exchange, the district fire stations, and other public buildings. Here also are the electric switches for call bells, &c., in the stables, the men’s houses, the workshops, and other parts of the Central Fire Station. Opening off it are offices for the Firemaster, his chief assistant, and clerk, and further along to the north are a dressing hall for the men, where they don their jackets, helmets, and top boots, a recreation room, a gymnasium, 40 by 19, lined with pitch pine (weekly gymnastics being obligatory on the men to keep them in condition), stores, and workshops of various kinds for repairing the hose, ladders, and machinery; for the fire brigade is chosen from various classes of tradesmen; so that all the repairs are done on the premises. Manufacturing, however, as well as repairing is also engaged in, and it is a feather in the cap of the brigade as “handy men,” that nearly all the electrical light fittings and many of the mechanical appliances have been made by them in the workshops. The blacksmith’s shop is fitted with a double fire furnace, large overhead travelling crane for the better handling of the heavier pieces of machinery, with turning lathes and other appliances, which will be driven by two electric motors. Behind is a large courtyard where the engines are cleaned and stoked after a fire, where the hose is scrubbed and examined, and that, again, is bounded by a range of low buildings, which include coal storage and an extra stable, on the top of which is fitted a platform which will be used in fire drill. There are in all twenty-two houses for the officers and men. The firemaster’s house is on the first floor over the engine room, while the floor above is occupied by the superintendent of the brigade and the market officer. The other houses for the men run along Lauriston Street. They are entered by a common staircase, tile lined, which at both flats opens at the back upon a long balcony enclosed with an iron railing. Off this balcony are passages, each leading to two houses, some of which are of two rooms, some of three, with all the necessary sanitary appliances. There is also accommodation provided for ten unmarried men, attached to which is a common mess room. On a third floor is a laundry and wash house, which can be occupied by representatives of four of the families at a time, and on the ground level is a small courtyard round which is a range of coal cellars. These houses are already occupied, and all seem very trim, convenient, and comfortable.
The arrangements for promptly turning out the brigade in case of fire are, as have been indicated, of the most perfect and time saving kind. Let us look at the engines as they stand in the hall. Just behind each of them is an opening in the floor, out of which rise two coupled pipes. These fit into corresponding apertures on the engine, and by this means a constant flow of hot water is maintained in the boiler of the fire machine. This hot water comes from a boiler situated in the basement of the tower, and the heat thus generated is also used to dry the hose. The fire engine in repose is also coupled with the gas pipes in the building. Now, this is what happens when an alarm is received at the central fire station. There is always a man on duty at the telephone. The moment he receives intimation of a fire, he presses a button, which rings and electric bell in the house of every member of the staff, and lights up, if it is at night, every man’s bedroom. If it is day, the bells are also rung in every workshop. The men rush out of their houses, run along the outside balconies, and either descend by a stair or slide down two vertical steel tubes, which rise from basement to roof in the well. Simultaneously there is displayed in the corridor along which the men pass from their dressing room an intimation which fire appliances are to be employed; and as to one or other of these every man is attached, he takes his place without enquiry. There are eight doors from the stables leading into the fire machine hall. Each horse has been standing with its head to the door; bells have been rung in the stables, and the animals are on the alert, and as keen to get off as the men. By an ingenious electrical contrivance the current which has summoned the men has thrown wide the stable doors, and by a clever device, as the horses move outwards they slip automatically the fastening at their necks. They are instantly led to the side of the engines – two for each machine – where the collar and harness, the latter reduced to the simplest forms, are hanging from the roof, the inside parts being attached to the pole of the engine. The collar drops on the neck of the horse and is closed with a spring, the free trace is attached to the collar and all is ready. By this time the driver and the men who are to go with the engine are already on the top of it. The opening of the stable door has another effect. It sets free a gas valve, and the gas, rushing along the pipes, ignited at little stationary peeps, lights the fire of the engine ready set below, and also the engine lamps. The moment the engine moves forward the hot water pipes and the gas pipes disconnect automatically, and all being ready a man on the engine opens the doors, by pulling a rope dangling over his head from the roof. Then with a clang of the fire gong the engines are in the street and off to the scene of the fire.
The Firemaster, to put the appliances to the test, made a call on Saturday forenoon about 12 o’clock. The men were in the courtyard, in the stables, or about the workshops; and, incredible as it may seem, they got into their coats and helmets, horsed two engines, and were out of the building in 18 seconds. One could hardly realise the promptitude with which the whole operation was conducted. Its orderliness was a striking feature. Barring the noise of the rush of feet, and the trampling of the horses, not a sound was to be heard. The stable doors opened noiselessly, the men harnessed the horses and took their places on the engines without a word. The whole seemed a triumph of mechanical invention, and orderly and efficient organisation.
The stables, it should be said, are all tile lined, are spacious, clean, and lofty, and fitted in every way to keep a horse healthy. The device by which the horse is fastened when he is in his stall consists of a double chain, so arranged that it holds the horse when it wishes to go backwards, but which unhooks itself when the animal puts its weight upon it in going forward, which it cannot do unless the stable door leading to the hall is opened. There are, of course, doors to the stables from the back courtyard. The steel upright tubes for the men sliding down from the upper floors are a novelty, and though they have not been much accustomed to them yet, several members of the brigade on Saturday when the call was given came down them in a very expert fashion. One good of the hot water being kept constantly circulating in the boilers of the engines when they are standing in the station is, that when once started with the fire below them steam can be got up in the boilers in an incredibly short time – 100 lb. of steam we believe in four minutes. To Bailie Telfer, Convener of the Plans and Works Committee, the city is to a large extent indebted for this important improvement on the Fire Brigade arrangements of the city. He was the champion of the scheme, and in its progress he has taken the deepest practical interest. The brigade at present consists of 54 men, with 16 horses and 6 steamers, and other fire appliances. Of these, 24 men will be stationed at Lauriston, with two steamers and eight horses. The officers attached to the Central Station will be the Firemaster, the Superintendent, and two Lieutenants, and at the district stations the organisation includes a Lieutenant, or foreman as he used to be called, and seven or eight men. The brigade at the Central Station will be divided into two divisions, who will take the first call week about. Should two fires occur simultaneously, or on the back of each other, there would thus be provision made for meeting such an emergency.
(The Scotsman, June 4, 1900, page 6)

OPENING OF THE NEW CENTRAL FIRE STATION, EDINBURGH 

Lord Provost Mitchell Thomson yesterday formally opened the new Central Fire Station, Edinburgh, in the presence of a representative assembly. Among others present were members and officials of the Edinburgh Corporation; Miss Stevenson and the Rev. Thomas Burns, representing the School Board; Mr Lisle, Moderator of the Edinburgh High Constables; Provost Mackie, Leith; and the convener of the Fire Committee and the Firemaster of that town; Commander Wells, fire officer of the London Brigade; Bailie Cleland and Mr Paterson, Firemaster, Glasgow; and Mr Duchar and other representatives of Edinburgh fire insurance companies. In the machine hall of the new station, Bailie Telfer, convener of the Plans and Works Committee, asked the Lord Provost to perform the ceremony, and in doing so expressed the hope that the expenditure which the station had entailed would prove of great benefit for many years to the city of Edinburgh.
The Lord Provost, in declaring the station open, said that during the last quarter of a century a great advance had been made in all departments of municipal work. It seemed strange that seventy-five years ago there was no city had an organised fire brigade, and he believed that Edinburgh was the first city that had a brigade, compelled thereto by the disasterous fire that took place when the Tron steeple and the adjoining buildings were burned. In regard to the present buildings they had great difficulty in getting a site for them. There seemed to be that difficulty in connection with all proposed public buildings in Edinburgh. He assured their farmer friends who objected to them erecting this fire station on the Cattle Market that the Town Council did not wish to deprive them of an inch of ground to their detriment, but the coming to this site was only anticipating by a few years what would certainly happen – the removal of Cattle Market, and with it the slaughter houses, to a more desirable site on the outskirts of the city. (Applause.) He had not yet seen round the building, but was assured that this station was one of the best equipped in the kingdom, and would serve the city for many years. He was not surprised at this, because they had in Bailey Telfer a convener who never did things by halves. He thought the highest praise Bailie Telfer would consider he could give him would be to say that he was a working man with a head, who used it well in the interests of the city. (Applause) The Lord Provost then pulled a lever, which opened the street doors of the station, and declared, amid applause, the building open. Though they had here all the most approved appliances for the extinction of fire, he hoped they would be rarely required.
Bailie Telfer, in the name of the committee, then asked the acceptance by the Lord Provost, as a souvenir of the occasion, of a “key”, with which the doors had been opened. This was in the shape of a conventionalised fire nozzle, 6in. in length, with the tip and the base of gold and the shaft of silver. On the shaft was a suitable inscription. Mr Robertson, of Messrs Kinnear & Moodie, contractors for the building, then presented Bailie Telfer with a souvenir in the shape of a handsome silver salver. Bailie Telfer, in reply, assured the contractors that they were well satisfied with the manner in which all the contracts had been carried out.
The Firemaster (Mr Pordage) then conducted the party over the building, and explained to them the manner in which the brigade was now worked. He also gave them a slow “turnout,” and demonstrated how the engines were horsed, and afterwards gave a regular call for the horsing of three engines standing in the hall. This was so promptly responded to that the first engine was out of the place in 15 seconds, and the other two before 30 seconds were up. The dispatch of the engines so promptly was greeted with a cheer. In the courtyard one of the objects displayed was the first engine, ordered by Edinburgh in 1824, after the High Street fire, which, needless to say, was viewed with much interest. The party thereafter returned to the City Chambers, where luncheon was served.
The Lord Provost gave the toast of “The Queen,” and remarked that he believed their joy at the tidings from Africa had been intensified by the knowledge that it would bring happiness to their beloved Sovereign, who in the early stages of the war had shown such an example to all of calmness and fortitude. (Applause.)
The Lord Provost, in proposing the toast of “The Plans and Works Committee,” spoke of the general work of that committee, and mentioned that they had now been able to acquire the whole of the Exchange Square for municipal purposes. In a few days the unsightly shops in the arches would be cleared away, and they would have a worthy entrance to their Municipal Buildings. Referring to the new central fire station, he briefly traced the history of the scheme, and complimented all concerned on the thought and care which had been expended on its building and equipment. (Applause.)
Bailie Telfer, in reply, mentioned that so long ago as the days when the late Bailie Cranston was convener of the Plans and Works Committee the desirableness of a new fire station had been started. The cost, however, frightened them. The scheme had been advanced so far by the last convener, Mr Macpherson. When he (Mr Telfer) succeeded to that office he felt that he had not only a duty to discharge to the public in getting an efficient fire station, but that a heavy responsibility rested on him to do so. The old station in the High Street was a conglomeration of nooks and corners. This site had been suggested to him by the late Chief Constable Henderson, and he believed that in the present building they had provided the city of Edinburgh with an efficient station which would last it for many years to come. With such a brigade as they had now, under so efficient a Firemaster as Mr Pordage, he thought the city might rely on the promptest measures being taken for the extinction of fires. He should just like to ventilate one point. He had always thought that the insurance companies should come to the help of the city in this matter. But hitherto he had felt that with their organisation in the state it was they could not ask the insurance companies with any grace for a donation to the fire brigade. Now things were different – (laughter and applause) – now matters were in such a condition that he thought he could ask the fire insurance companies for a contribution. They would never miss, say, £500 a year, and it would be a great matter in in connection with the expenses of the brigade. (Applause.)
Treasurer Cranston proposed “Other Municipalities” and commented on the great development which had taken place in municipal affairs and their administration since 1833. He especially noted with satisfaction the growing desire of municipalities to afford each other all necessary assistance in matters of administration.
Bailie Cleland and Provost Mackie replied, and complimented Edinburgh on the efficiency of its new fire station.
Sir Andrew M’Donald proposed the toast of “The Fire Services of these Kingdoms.” Their first work was the saving of human life, and the next the saving of property. In both they deserved to be encouraged and strengthened in every way. (Applause.)
Commander Wells, London, in reply, spoke of the great importance of street fire alarms, and mentioned that they were greatly extending these in London.
Mr Paterson, Glasgow, also responded, and likewise spoke of the necessity of street fire alarm stations, and said they were increasing theirs in Glasgow from 120 to 200. Both gentlemen spoke in complimentary terms of the new station.
The other toasts were “The Architects and the Contractors,” which was replied to by Mr Robert Morham and Mr John Robertson; and “The Lord Provost,” proposed by Mr David Deuchar, and replied to by his Lordship.
The proceedings then terminated.
(The Scotsman, June 8, 1900, page 8)

ALL-ACTION STATION 

It’s the end of an era in firefighting in central Edinburgh – and the start of a new and improved one.
The reason a £2,200,000 fire station at Tollcross replaces the cramped and outdated one at Lauriston, which opened in 1900 and which was designed with horses and horse drawn vehicles in mind.
The new building at the corner of Ponton Street and West Tollcross, is on land which had been used for years as a car park but which was formerly the site of a tram car and later bus depot.
The new premises will see Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade operations in the area well into the twenty first century. They have, in fact, been in use since last Thursday but the official opening ceremony was to be carried out only today by the Secretary of State for Scotland, Malcolm Rifkind.
And taking the change a step further, the brigade adopted a new coat of arms – two lions holding a shield bearing the words “Ready Aye Ready.” It replaces one of two thistles on a background of flames and water.
Although Tollcross fire station, which took 18 months to build, has taken over as the fire fighting base, Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade headquarters will remain at Lauriston, which is only about a quarter of a mile from the new site.
Stating the reason simply for transferring firefighting to Tollcross, Divisional Officer John Longmuir, senior staff officer, says: “We were literally trying to squeeze a quart into a pint jug at Lauriston.
“Originally designed for horses and horse drawn appliances, not the sophisticated equipment we have nowadays, the accommodation had become unsuitable because of the increase in personnel, apart from anything else.
“Out of a total staff of about 140 at Laurieston, we had 68 firemen fighting fires. The dormitory for people on the night shift was too small, there was not enough car parking space in the yard and there was no room for training. That had to be done at Liberton.”
Now all that has changed. Tollcross fire station – which has its main entrance off Ponton Street – has excellent training facilities, including a special training block with five floors and an attic level, the top two floors being laid out as a maisonette to give firemen as realistic an experience as possible of tackling difficult house fires.
This block is a particular asset of the new station.
Mr Longmuir adds: “From the day he enters the service until the day he retires, a fireman is involved in constant training.
“It covers every situation he could be expected to meet in the line of his duty. There are pump and hose drills, ladder training for fighting fires in high buildings, training in the use of breathing apparatus and rescue training, including the use of a turntable ladder.
“There is also training for fighting fires in which hazardous chemicals may be involved, as well as coping with things like road accidents, rail and plane crashes and collapsed buildings.
“A fireman’s job these days is not confined to fighting fires. That is a concept which is 50 years out of date. A fireman now is something of a Jack of all trades.
“We are equipped for, and on instant response to, any emergency whatsoever. We have to train firemen in the use of an emergency tender, which has things like cutting gear on it for releasing trapped people. It is very specialised work.
Although Lothian and Borders have no plans to do so at present, it is a situation which has prompted some brigades to alter their titles – as in Fife where the fire brigade now call themselves Fife Fire and Rescue Brigade.
Besides the training block, Tollcross fire station consists of a two storey main building which houses on the ground floor an appliance room for four appliances, a garage, the main washrooms, kit room and three offices.
On the upper floor, adjacent to West Tollcross, are the dormitories, recreation rooms, dining room and kitchen. On the same level, the Ponton Street wing contains a new fire control suite (not yet in use as control is staying meantime at Lauriston) and a fitness area.
Mr Longmuir says: “These facilities are also important for the men. It means they can keep themselves occupied – perhaps studying for examinations or having a game of snooker – during “stand down” periods at night when they are not out fighting fires.
“The fitness area has a multi-gym and is especially valuable as our men have to be extremely fit. Their bodies have to be able to switch easily from being dormant one minute to operating at their peak the next.
<PHOTO> Face, Divisional Officer John Longmuir.
“It is one of the few jobs where you can be working on your feet in extreme conditions until you fall down with exhaustion.”
Although Tollcross is an ultra-modern station, one sight familiar to most people will be the traditional poles which carry firemen from the upper level down into the appliance room.
As Mr Longmuir explains: “There is still no quicker and safer way of getting men from one floor to another. If you have them going down stairs it is slower and also raises the possibility of someone falling because they are in such a hurry.”
Once in their vehicles, firemen will have the advantage of a carefully worked out traffic control system to help them make their way through the busy city streets which surround the new station.
When the fire engine sets of, a “green wave” system is switched on which turns traffic lights to green – allowing cars to move freely so they do not hold up appliances – on routes to be followed.
This operates lights as far away as the West Approach Road, The King’s Theatre, Fountainbridge and Lauriston Place – depending on the direction in which a machine is heading.
On top of this, a “fire lane” – which operates on a contra-flow basis – now forms part of the road in Thornybank, running from directly opposite the appliance room and giving faster access to Home Street.
The road is marked similarly to a bus lane together with appropriate warning notices indicating that the lane is exclusively for the use of fire appliances.
Turnout time is the same as it was from Laurieston, with firemen able to reach anywhere in the station area within five minutes.
One thing Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade are very conscious of is the need to get on with their new neighbours at Tollcross and they are doing everything they can to minimise disturbance.
The ground floor of the Lauriston building will not be going to waste now that the firefighters have moved out.
There are plans to use the vacant space to house exhibits of the brigade museum.
These include equipment dating back to the eleventh century, currently kept at McDonald Road fire station. Mr Longmuir says, though, that this project will take “some time” to organise.
(Evening News, Friday, April 18, 1986. Page 10)

Fire – first on the scene
James Gray begins a two part report

For 162 years our brigade has been ‘ready’... 

<Photo> 2 Horse Drawn Appliances. The race is on...to save lives.
<Photo> Fire drill at the back of Lauriston.
<Photo> Another day...another job at Lauriston.
<Photo> From the “Evening News”...a report of the whisky fire at Leith when Edinburgh’s Firemaster took command.
Edinburgh’s firemen are “Ready, Aye Ready.” That’s the motto they’ve lived up to since the city formed the first municipal fire brigade in Britain in 1824 and, in their archives, some momentous fire fighting episodes are chronicled and filed away.
They were even ready when their headquarters station at Lauriston was being opened in 1900 – and smartly turned out to two calls as the official ceremonies were going on.
Now 86 years later and with the building of a new central fire station at Tollcross, Lauriston is about to end its days as an operational station.
It seems strange, however, that at its opening, no one thought to propose a toast to the work of the brigade or the dedication and courage of its firemen.
In the archives, a copy of the official lunch menu records toasts only to the Queen, the council’s buildings and works committee, the architect and contractors, and the Lord Provost.
The following year Lauriston was brought into action for their first major blaze – down in Leith, which then had its own fire service.
It was at a bonded warehouse owned by Melrose-Drover, a five storey building at the corner of Mitchell Street and Elbe Street. Inside were 4500 gallons of whisky.
The Leith brigade decided to get assistance and, according to reports, Edinburgh’s Firemaster “Mr Arthur Pordage and his men were not long in appearing” with two detachments from Lauriston.
“As it happened, the Firemaster of Leith was on holiday and Firemaster Pordage, with the cordial approval of several members of Leith Town Council, took charge of the operations.”
An offer, I suppose, they couldn’t refuse.
Many more spectacular and costly blazes have followed. There was a £10,000 fire at the George Street shop of James Gray & Son in 1902. And in 1929 one officer was killed and £100,000 damage caused at a fire in the Central Arcade Company’s bazaar and store which then occupied the corner of South Bridge and Chambers Street.
In the same year a grain warehouse in Leith Docks was destroyed at a cost of £350,000 which the then Firemaster termed “one of the worst fires in the history of the city.”
But on Hogmanay 1935, fire broke out in the New Waverley Hotel, in Waterloo Place, in which three women – a bookkeeper and two maids – lost their lives.
And, in the following year, every fireman in Edinburgh was in action to tackle a blaze at the British Ropes’ Edinburgh Roperie and Sailcloth Company in Leith. It burnt out a quarter mile of buildings, and six miles of hoseline was used by the firefighters in their efforts to put out the flames.
The years of the Second World War, with German bombing raids on Edinburgh, added to the work of firefighting. They also attended plane crashes – 13 in 1943, with the loss of 22 lives; eight in 1944, with ten deaths; and three in 1945 in which seven lives were lost.
Of the fires caused by enemy action, one of the worst was on September 29, 1940, when a 500lb bomb fell on Duff Street – at 5-15am.
“As a result of the explosion and the fire which followed,” it is recorded, “a five storey bonded store belonging to the Distillers Company was wholly destroyed and many tenements in Duff Street, Springwell Place and Downfield Place badly damaged.
“It took 30 appliances and 148 firemen…to deal with this fire as a result of which 135 families were evacuated and 50 had to be rehoused.
“Among the many odd incidents associated with this fire was one in which a large cask of whisky, blown out of the store by the explosion, crashed through a tenement roof and came to rest on a table, still half full of blazing spirits!”
In more recent times, 1955 turned out to be a bad year and busy year.
Another bonded warehouse, this time owned by Hill Thomson and Co, in Water Street, Leith, was destroyed; C & A’s store in Princes Street went on fire with half a million pounds worth of damage, and, simultaneously, there was a £250,000 blaze at a wholesale footwear store in Jeffery Street.
Though fire engines will no longer race forth from Lauriston, the red sandstone building (it cost £43,000 to build in 1900) will still remain as the control room nerve centre of the Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade for at least two more years.
There are also plans to turn it into the city’s fire museum in which the machines and equipment of bygone years will link with those firefighting episodes I found filed away in the archives.
(Evening News, Tuesday, April 22, 1986. Page 8)

The one thing they won’t let go? The pole! 

<Photo> Checking the equipment…a vital role at Tollcross
Firefighting has become a more dangerous and complex occupation since the days when Edinburgh recruited 80 men to form Britain’s first municipal fire brigade.
The invention of new chemicals and explosives, poly and plastic substances and other volatile materials has added to the hazards faced by today’s firefighters.
Unlike their predecessors, who used to turn out at 4am to drill in the High Street, many hours are now spent in lecture rooms learning how to combat a vast range of potentially high risk products from liquefied petroleum gas to polyurethane foam.
From the early days of lumbering fire carts and horse drawn engines, the modern engine with its complex equipment weighs around nine tons – thanks to today’s emergencies every ounce is needed, as well as every second saved in getting there.

FURNISHINGS

The logistics of firefighting in the eighties have, if fact, become so sophisticated that on the ground floor of Edinburgh’s new £2,200,000 station at Tollcross, there’s a little glass fronted fire alarm box to smash – just in case fire started in the station itself.
At first sight it seems an unnecessary addition to the furnishings – with a squad of firemen and firefighting equipment already there on the spot. But fire stations have their hazards, too – with banks of oxygen cylinders and full tanks of fuel in the waiting fire engines.
It’s all a question, say today’s firemen, of practicing what they preach. Breaking the little glass box in an emergency gives early warning to those who might be trapped on the first floor.
Outside the front door, an emergency “999” telephone linked to the control room has also been installed for those living or working nearby . . . . for use when the station’s fire engines are out in action elsewhere.
You can’t describe the house fires of today as “ordinary” events.
“At one time, when you were tackling a blaze inside, you could judge from the smoke how toxic and dangerous it might be,” says station officer John Gray.
“Sometimes you got a warning. Like feeling lightheaded. Nowadays a room can be quite clear, no worse, perhaps, than a room where people have smoked cigarettes. Yet one whiff can be deadly.
“Bystanders often wonder why we’re wearing oxygen masks in a house where there’s no great amount of smoke.
“Because of the possibility of toxic fumes, the wearing of breathing apparatus has now become standard practice, whether or not there’s any appreciable volume of smoke.”
The oxygen cylinders used by firemen last for around half an hour, depending on circumstances, and they are checked at the beginning of each shift, along with other equipment. . . .
Edinburgh’s first firemen drilled at 4am because they combined firefighting with their ordinary jobs. Now firemen at full time stations, like Tollcross, work a four day week – two on day shift and two on nights.
The modern requirements of the job have eliminated many of the old practices, such as the cleaning of brass. Now, apart from lectures and practical training, firemen are also employed in fire prevention.
One notion they quickly dispel is that a wet towel offers protection from smoke. It doesn’t. Though the wearer might gain some confidence, they will still breathe in toxic fumes.
Each fire has a lesson to pass on. One of which is still remembered is the one which followed an explosion at the Burn Grange Oil Shale Mine at West Calder in 1947, in which 15 lives were lost.
The fire raged 450 feet down and, although not trained for such occurrences, the firemen descended with breathing apparatus. After a time, they were persuaded to hand over their sets to colliery workers who had more knowledge of the workings and stood more chance of locating the 15 missing miners.

COMPUTER

Firefighting, and the sealing off of 22 roadways, went on for four days before the area could be penetrated and the bodies recovered.
It is one of the many serious incidents which have since led to fire presentation legislation covering factories, offices, shops and almost all buildings to which the public have access.
There is now a computer “file” of hazards that might be encountered if a factory or buildings goes on fire, or a tanker carrying chemicals crashes.
In the control room, the name of the chemical is keyed into the computer and firemen are given guidance on what special clothing or equipment might be needed.
For all that expertise there is one tried and trusty method remaining. Firemen, even in the most modern fire stations, still slide down to their engines on a pole
(Evening News, Wednesday, April 23, 1986. Page 8)

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