Southeast

SOUTH EASTERN FIRE BRIGADE

The South Eastern Fire Brigade came into operation on the 14th May, 1948 under the Fire Services Act, 1947 covering the counties of Berwick, East Lothian, Midlothian, Peebles, Roxburgh, Selkirk and West Lothian, and the county of the city of Edinburgh. The Brigade continued until Regionalisation on on 16th May, 1975 when part of it went into the Central Region Fire Brigade and the remainder formed Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade.
The brigade was administered by The South Eastern Scotland Fire Area Joint Committee consisting of fifteen members, eight of whom were from Edinburgh Corporation and one from each of the seven County Councils.

The structure of the brigade was :-

1    Firemaster
1    Assistant Firemaster (Deputy Firemaster)
2    Column Officers
3    Company Officers
1    Section Leader
4    Leading Firewomen
4    Firewomen

Headquarters

Central Fire Station, Lauriston Place

Firemasters

1948 to 1962	Firemaster Alexander B Craig
1962 to 1970	Firemaster Frank Rushbrook
1970 to 1975	Firemaster James Anderson

Stations

	1948			1975
1	Lauriston Place Edinburgh	WT		Lauriston Place Edinburgh	WT
2	Junction Place Leith	WT		McDonald Road Edinburgh	WT
3	Stockbridge Edinburgh	WT		Crewe Toll Edinburgh	WT
4	Angle Park Edinburgh	WT		Sighthill	WT
5	London Road Edinburgh	WT		Marionville Edinburgh	WT
6	Mussleburgh	WT/RT		Mussleburgh
7	Bathgate	WT/RT		Bathgate	WT/RT
8	Dalkeith	WT/RT		Dalkeith
9	Galashiels	WT/RT		Galashiels	WT/RT
10	Broxburn	RT		Broxburn	RT
11	Bo'ness	RT		Bo'ness
12	Linlithgow	RT		Linlithgow	RT
13	South Queensferry	RT		South Queensferry	RT
14	West Calder	RT		West Calder	RT
15	Penicuik	RT		Penicuik	RT
16	Tranent	RT		Tranent	RT
17	Haddington	RT		Haddington	RT
18	East Linton	RT		East Linton	RT
19	North Berwick	RT		North Berwick	RT
20	Dunbar	RT		Dunbar	RT
21	Peebles	RT		Peebles	RT
22	West Linton	RT		West Linton	RT
23	Innerleithen	RT		Innerleithen	RT
24	Coldstream	RT		Coldstream	RT
25	Duns	RT		Duns	RT
26	Eyemouth	RT		Eyemouth	RT
27	Hawick	RT		Hawick
28	Jedburgh	RT		Jedburgh	RT
29	Kelso	RT		Kelso	RT
30	Melrose	RT		Melrose	RT
31	Newcastletown	RT		Newcastletown	RT
32	Selkirk	RT		Selkirk	RT
			New station operational 7/3/1969	Livingston	WT

Stations Opened by South Eastern Fire Brigade

STATION	OCCUPIED	OFFICIAL OPENING
Dunbar		30/1/1958
McDonald Road		17/6/1966
Marionville		11/6/1968
Crewe Toll		8/2/1969
Livingston	7/3/1969	21/3/1969
Whitburn		13/4/1974

SOUTH EASTERN AREA FIRE BRIGADE RADIO CALL SIGNS (July 1968)

ZF 1	Firemaster	BHQ
ZF 2	Assistant Firemaster	BHQ
ZF 3	3rd O. (DO)	BHQ
ZF 4	D.O.	BHQ
ZF 5	D.O.	BHQ
ZF 6	D.O.	BHQ
ZF 7	ADO	BHQ
ZF 8	ADO	BHQ
ZF 9	Not in use
ZF 10	PE	Lauriston
ZF 11	P	Lauriston
ZF 12	PE	McDonald Road
ZF 13	P	McDonald Road
ZF 14	PE	Sighthill
ZF 15	WrT	Sighthill
ZF 16	PL	Stockbridge
ZF 17	P	Stockbridge
ZF 18	PL	Marionville
ZF 19	PE	Musselburgh
ZF 20	WrT	Dalkeith
ZF 21	PL	Bathgate
ZF 22	DO	Bathgate
ZF 23	WrT	Bathgate
ZF 24	P	Queensferry
ZF 25	P	Linlithgow
ZF 26	PE	Bo�ness
ZF 27	P	Bo�ness
ZF 28	WrT	Broxburn
ZF 29	P	West Calder
ZF 30	Stn/O	Musselburgh
ZF 31	Min-Van	Dalkeith
ZF 32	P	Penicuik
ZF 33	WrT	West Linton
ZF 34	WrT	Tranent
ZF 35	WrT	East Linton
ZF 36	P	Haddington
ZF 37	WrT	Haddington
ZF 38	PL	North Berwick
ZF 39	WrT	North Berwick
ZF 40	WrT	Dunbar
ZF 41	DO	Galashiels
ZF 42	PE	Galashiels
ZF 43	WrT	Galashiels
ZF 44	PE	Hawick
ZF 45	P	Hawick
ZF 46	WrT	Hawick
ZF 47	Stn/O	Hawick
ZF 48	WrT	Peebles
ZF 49	WrT	Peebles
ZF 50	WrT	Innerleithen
ZF 51	P	Melrose
ZF 52	WrT	Selkirk
ZF 53	WrT	Jedburgh
ZF 54	WrE	Kelso
ZF 55	WrT	Kelso
ZF 56	WrT	Coldstream
ZF 57	WrT	Duns
ZF 58	WrT	Eyemouth
ZF 59	Van	Galashiels
ZF 60	ET	McDonald
ZF 61	ET	Bathgate
ZF 62	ET	Galashiels
ZF 63	FST	McDonald

Dated August 1968, at which time the following were also due to be added:

ZF 64	TL	Lauriston
ZF 65	TL	McDonald Road
ZF 66	TL	Sighthill

No mention was made of the Marionville HP at this time, but presumably if it was also fitted with radio it would become ZF 67. The new station at Livingston opened in 1969 and the WrL was assigned the call sign ZF69, although not confirmed it is assumed that the Livingston Station Officers van would have been assigned the call sign ZF68
Mobiles ZF 41 to 59 & ZF 62 were controlled at this time by a sub-control at Galashiels which used callsign �ZF-Tango�. This was due to the terrain which prevented mobiles from Hawick, Galashiels, Peebles, Innerleithen, Melrose, Duns, Kelso, Selkirk, Jedburgh, Coldstream and Eyemouth from being able to hear Lauriston, though Lauriston could usually receive the mobile.
West Lothian machines were controlled from the Sub Divisional control at Bathgate which had the call sign ZF-Victor. The brigade reserve control at McDonald Road had the call sign ZF-Sierra.
At this time (August 1968) some mobiles were equipped with Elliott (AM) radio, whilst others carried Storno (FM) equipment.
The whole of South Eastern's radio network was officially M2ZFQ. The only time Quebec was used was when Control was calling the whole network in effect calling ZF Quebec. The M2 part was never used but it would have been on the licence from the Home Office to operate such a scheme

Repeater Stations:

Elliott: Cairapapple (Bathgate)
Garleton (Haddington)

Storno: Meigel Hill (Galashiels)
Hardens Hill (Berwick)

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

MAIN INDEX 1948 INDEX