The Angus Fire Area Administration Scheme Order, 1958

                                                                                                     Equipment                                                             Retained

                                                                                                     3 Pump Appliances                                              1 Station Officer
                                                                                                                                                                                      1 Sub Officer
                                                                                                                                                                                      2 Leading Firemen
                                                                                                                                                                                      16 Firemen

Establishment 2000

*The Foam Tender is crewed by 1 wholetime firefighter who waits for a retained firefighter to come in before it goes. If the wholetime are short staffed then two retained firefighters take out the Foam Tender. The Establishment is split over 4 watches (each of 1 Sub Officer and 6 Firefighters), Red, White, Blue and Green working an average of 42 hours per week on a 2 days, 2 nights and 4 days off rota.

This was A04 until 28/6/2004 when it became Station 4 and on ?/12/2015 it became P06 with the introduction of the new National Call Signs.

<PHOTO> Means there is a photograph in the article but the photograph is not on this site.

<PHOTO> Steamer and firemen working.
Arbroath's Victorian fire engine was a far cry from the fast and powerful machines of today. In 1897 this engine was financed and maintained by the town council, and was one of the last steam powered fire engines. More efficient combustion engines started to take over around the early 1900s. This particular machine and its crew were captained by manufacturer David Corsar of Cairniehill, seen here in the centre of the photograph. Larger industrial factories often had their own independent fire engine.
Low's Foundry in Monifieth had their own fire brigade, and loaned it to the town when needed.
(Britain in Old Photographs, Angus by Fiona C. Scharlau. Page 82.)

Quick Service

Two minutes before Arbroath’s new £15,000 fire station was to have been opened yesterday a fire call was received. Rows of seats for members of the Angus fire area joint committee were pushed aside, the big main doors were opened, and in less than 90 seconds the fire engine left.
The station was then opened by the Provost of Arbroath, Mr D. A. Gardner.
(The Glasgow Herald, Saturday, March 21, 1959. Page 6.)

Fire station opens – at the double 

<PHOTO> The fire engine leaves for the blaze at South Park Farm.
The opening of their new £15,000 fire station in Ponderlaw Street yesterday was to have been a big event for the Arbroath firemen. So it was — but things didn’t turn out as expected.
Two minutes before the opening, scheduled for 3 p.m., the firemen were standing neatly at one side of the main appliances room, their leaders in dress uniform.
Two Provosts, three Firemasters and a Home Department official were among the people ready to take their places at the table, and in the rows of seats, when the thing they were all dreading happened.
A fire alarm was given. Sirens wailed, and the firemen jumped into action. Dress uniforms were peeled off, the rows of chairs cast aside, and the table was pushed out of the way as the big doors were opened for two of the fire engines to dash out with 12 of the men.
The call was to a fire in a stackyard at South Park Farm, Guthrie, where a spark from a threshing machine had started a fire among chaff.
The firemen had little trouble in dealing with the fire, but before they got back there was another call, and the remainder of the unit had to attend a chimney fire in the town.

Third call

While the men were out on the second call, the siren went again. Before it finished sounding a tender arrived back from the Guthrie fire and was turned around to deal with another chimney fire, this time at Parkhill Farm, on the Arbroath – Montrose road.
Chairman at the opening was Provost D.L. Urquhart, Forfar, chairman of Angus Fire Area Joint Committee.
Provost D.A. Gardner, Arbroath, declared the station open, and Mrs Urquhart pushed the button to raise the electrically operated main doors.

Morale booster

Provost Gardner said the fire station had been well worth waiting for.
“One of the best things arising out of the new station will be a boost to the morale of the firemen, a very vital thing,” he said. “It will also help in recruitment.”
Mr. J.W. Gibson, Dundee, Angus Area Firemaster, said it meant a great deal that the officers and men served the brigade so well for all these years.

Stand in

Sub Officer Duncan Wallace was to have handed over a gift to Provost Gardner, and Fireman Charlie Borland was to have given Mrs. Urquhart a bouquet.
As they were called out to one of the fires, the gifts were handed over by Assistant Divisional Officer W. Sloan.
Guests at the ceremony included Mr. A.D. Wilson, inspector of fire stations for Scotland; Mr. A.F.C. Clark, Home Department under secretary; Mr. A. Masson, Firemaster for Perth and Kinross; and Mr. W. Woods, Firemaster for the North Eastern area.
Members of Angus Fire Area Joint Committee and representatives and officials from Arbroath Town Council also attended.
The new station consists mainly of the appliances room, 70 feet by 35 feet, which runs the length of the building.
In the east wing there are an equipment store and a hose repair room.
There is also a large training and recreation room, and at the same side of the building there are a small kitchen, a repair shop, a fuel store and a boiler room. At the front of the building there is an office and watchroom.
On the west side there is a muster room. There are also a drying room and a washroom with sprays.
(Dundee Courier and Advertiser, Saturday, March 21, 1959.)

Arbroath’s New Fire Station
To Be Opened This Afternoon

Rather like water at the turn of a tap the Fire service is apt to be taken for granted in this modern age yet, next to hygiene, an organized and efficient means of combating fire is probably the greatest single factor in enabling men to live in communities in safety.
There are many examples in history of towns and cities being destroyed by fire. But for the growth of the Fire Brigade it is possible that the human race would have had to give up living in large and compact communities with a remarkable change in history.
A Fire Service had to come for civilisation to advance in the way it has done, and firemen are far more important members of any community than people take time to realise. Fire and flood are the two greatest destructive forces in the world. Firemen earned their due place in the last war when, but for them, use of fire by Hitler might well have succeeded.
For many years now Arbroath and its surrounding district has not had a fire station capable of the needs of the area. Arbroath’s part time firemen have been guarding an area of 70 square miles — and that is quite an area —from an antiquated headquarters.
Members of Angus Fire Area Joint Committee have not been slow to protest at the conditions under which the men have had to work. The old premises have been called “a dump” and “a disgrace to a town the size of Arbroath." This was no exaggeration.
Now the old fire station in North Grimsby is just a bad memory.
This afternoon the fine new building at Ponderlaw Street, opposite the gas works, will be officially opened. Here at last is a fire station worthy of the town.
Provost D. L. Urquhart, Forfar, who is chairman of the Fire Committee, will preside at the opening ceremony, and Firemaster John W. Gibson, Dundee, will be present along with members of the Committee and county representatives.

SIMPLE DESIGN

As befits a fire station, the design of the new £15,000 premises has been kept simple and functional, but the very simplicity gives the place quite an air. Built mainly of brick, concrete and steel, the building is bright and spacious and the firemen will have room to move at last. Plenty of glass and paint work in pastel shades of grey, blue, pink and yellow make it a cheerful place in which to work, which should help to attract and keep new men.
A feature of the station are the overhead doors. The main front doors are electrically operated and slide up along their steel runways with efficiency and speed. Similar doors at the rear, leading out to the firecourt, are operated manually.
Most of the building is taken up by the appliance room which runs the full length of the building. It is approximately 70 feet by 35 feet.
In the east wing there is an equipment store and hose repair room. An advantage for the crew is a large training and recreation room. On the same side of the building are a small kitchen, repair shop, fuel store and boiler room.
The office and watch room at the front of the building looks out on the appliance room. The muster room is a palace compared to the old premises and extra space should assist the men in getting quickly into action.
A drying room is one thing which will be appreciated and is, of course, a necessity in a modern station. The building has central heating and has a proper wash-room with sprays, where the firemen can clean up after the many dirty jobs they have to tackle in the course of their duties.
A fine open court at the rear of the building provides ample space for training and keeping equipment in trim.
(The Arbroath Herald, Friday, March 20, 1959. Page 6.)

ARBROATH’S NEW UP-TO-DATE FIRE STATION
Premises in Ponderlaw Will Help to Maintain Efficiency

<PHOTO> Arbroath’s new Fire Station in Ponderlaw was formerly opened yesterday. This picture shows two of the modern appliances.
Arbroath’s new £15,000 Fire Station, which was formally opened yesterday, is of modern design providing ample but not extravagant accommodation for the equipment and the personnel of the Arbroath unit of the Angus Area Fire Service. The new local headquarters of the Fire Brigade should help in maintaining the high level of efficiency in the unit and at the same time provide more comfortable training quarters.
The site of the new building is in Ponderlaw on the opposite side of the street to the Gas Works, and it replaces the old premises in North Grimsby which have been described by members of the Fire Area Committee as “a dump and a disgrace to a town the size of Arbroath.”
This modern Fire Station provides excellent crew accommodation which should do much to improve conditions in the fire service locally and also make them more attractive for recruits.
The authorised strength of the Arbroath unit is 20, and the present roll is 17 – two sub officers, two leading firemen, and 13 firemen. All are part time auxiliary firemen. One convenience of the new Fire Station for them is that it is situated nearer the homes of the majority of them, so that they will not have so far to go in response to night calls as they had when the Station was in North Grimsby.

Equipment

The vehicles housed in the new Fire Station include a pump escape wagon. This is a fire engine with cabin accommodation for the crew, which carries in addition to pump and hose a large extensible ladder on a wheel base. Such an appliance is the machine sent regularly to attend fire calls in the town. There are two other appliances, termed water tenders, which are in themselves complete fire engines and also carry their own supply of water. They are used for fires in the country area.
One embodies a tank containing 40 gallons of water, and it has in addition to its main pump a mobile pump which can then be man-hauled or wheeled to the vicinity of a stream or dam which could not be approached by any vehicle.

Large Hall

The new Fire Station comprises a large hall with side wings in which are the various offices and rooms for staff and equipment. Tar macadam is on the forecourt fronting the building, which is set well back from the roadway, and tar macadam is also laid in the vehicle passageway along the west side of the building and on the courtyard and training area at the rear of the Station. In this courtyard the vehicles are cleaned after use and also training exercises take place.
The Station is brick built, having a frontage of multi-coloured facing bricks and the remaining walls being roughcast externally. Concrete floors are laid through the Station with various types of floor finish. The roof over the main hall, or appliance room, has steel roof trusses covered with patent roofing material. Timber constructed flat roofs, covered covered with patent roofing, are provided for the east and west wings.

Electric Doors

A feature of the main hall is that the large doors in the front are electrically operated and raise at the push of a button while the firemen are running to the machine from the muster room. The smaller doors at the rear are hand operated.
The main hall or appliance room is about 27 yards long, from the front to the rear, and 12 yards wide. In the east wing there is a small workshop and equipment store, a hose repair room, a lecture and recreation room about 33 feet by 18 feet wide having a parquet floor, and, adjacent to this, a small kitchen.
At the front of the west wing is the office and control room, with toilet accommodation for the officer on watch. The first member of the crew to arrive in response to a call takes charge of the telephone in the control room. A lock fast store is also in this wing, as well as the muster room, in which the fireman’s uniforms and equipment hang ready for donning quickly.
Behind this is a drying room, for the drying of wet clothes and equipment, and adjacent is the main toilet accommodation with showers.
The major colour schemes are bright in refreshing creams and greys. The heating is on the small but accelerated system.

Contractors

The main contractors were:- builders Messrs Christie and Anderson, Arbroath; plasterer, A. M. Harrison, Carnoustie; joiner, J. and R. W. Sievwright, Arbroath; heating, T. R. Grant & Son, Arbroath; plumbing, Herron and Colville, Arbroath; painter, D. Goodwillie, Arbroath; electricians, A. Nicoll, Arbroath.
(The Arbroath Guide, Saturday, March 21, 1959. Page 8.)

Fire Just Could Not Wait

GUESTS SCATTER AS ALARM INTERRUPTS OPENING
CEREMONY AT NEW FIRE STATION

<PHOTO> Provost D. A. Gardner opening Arbroath’s new fire station in Ponderlaw. Also in the picture are Provost D. L. Urquhart of Forfar and Firemaster J. W. Gibson
Friday was quite a day for the part-time firemen of Arbroath. It was the day the fine new £15,000 fire station in Ponderlaw was to be officially opened with due ceremony. It was the day they were to hear complimentary things said about them and have tea with the “brass hats.” It was the day when a gremlin took a hand—and. the well-laid scheme for the afternoon was blown sky high. It was the day a fire just couldn't wait.
The new station was spic and span for the opening ceremony. The engines gleamed, neat rows of chairs had been arranged for the guests and there were potted plants for decoration. The firemen were turned out in parade ground standard and their officers wore dress uniform.
Promptly at 3 p.m. Provost D. A. Gardner stepped forward with the platform party. Promptly at 3 p.m. came a fire call.
The firemen had leaped out of one uniform and into another and had roared away on the first engine before the guests quite realised what was happening. Then chairs and guests were bundled unceremoniously aside to let a second engine race away.
It was a few minutes before order was restored. Then, minus all but a few of the firemen, the ceremony went on.
While the firemen were on their way back from the first call—a stackyard fire at South Park Farm, Guthrie—a second call came. This was to a chimney fire in Millgate Loan.
Assistant Divisional Officer W. Sloan, who was present at the opening ceremony, joined the remaining firemen on the station’s remaining appliance and dashed off to the call.

A THIRD CALL

They had been there barely ten minutes when the fire siren wailed for a third time. This call was to a chimney fire at the gardener’s cottage at Parkhill Estate. Leaving a policeman and two firemen to finish off at Millgate Loan, the appliance and its depleted crew chased off to this third fire.
Meanwhile an engine for the original fire at Guthrie had returned to the station just in time to pick up the call and was already on its way to Parkhill.
It was quite a day for the Arbroath men who had already attended a chimney fire in town in the forenoon. The opening ceremony had begun at 3 o’clock and they were still hard at work at the station, preparing equipment in readiness for the next alert, at seven o’clock.
The fire at Guthrie had been started by a spark from a threshing machine. Some chaff was burned and some grain damaged. The two chimney fires caused minor damage.
There was quite a representative gathering for the opening ceremony, with two provosts, three firemaster's and a Home Department official.
Provost Gardner performed the Opening and Provost D. I. Urquhart, Forfar, chairman of Angus Fire Area Joint Committee, presided. Guests included Mr A. D. Wilson, inspector of fire stations for Scotland, Mr. A. F. C. Clark, Home Department under-secretary; Mr Masson, firemaster for Perth and Kinross; and Mr W. Woods, firemaster for the North Eastern Area. Firemaster W. Gibson, Dundee, of Angus Area, an Assistant Divisional Officer Sloan were also present along with members of the Joint Committee and members of Arbroath Town Council.
When the ceremony finally started Provost Urquhart remarked, “We did have with us some of the Arbroath retained firemen. We hope they will come back !” However, his wish was not granted.
Provost Urquhart said Arbroath had shown forbearance in their great need for a new fire station. It had been a case of priorities and the Joint Committee’s scheme had been worked out harmoniously. Arbroath had had a long wait but it was not the first time they had shown a willingness to study the needs of others.

ECONOMY LEAD

Arbroath had also led the way in economy. The town was going to have 10 full-time firemen but the Council had said they could manage with part-time men. The part-time system had worked extremely well and the Council were to be congratulated on their far-sightedness. Arbroath deserved something of the munificence of the new station. He thought it was a “real beauty.”
Provost Gardner said that the Fire Service Act of 1947 had brought into one unit the fire services of Dundee, Angus and Arbroath. The Committee had set about the business of creating out of the war-time National Fire Service, a peace-time service based on standards of accommodation, equipment and personnel which would not only provide a maximum of efficiency in peacetime but which would also he readily convertible to a war-time footing if that dire necessity should ever occur.
The Committee were to he congratulated on the methodical way they had gone about their task. They were criticised for indulging in too much capital expenditure, but the standards demanded were laid down by the Government and the expenditure just had to fit.
He thought night most people would agree the wait for Arbroath's new station had been worth it. In the period of waiting the local firemen had had to put up with difficult and unsatisfactory conditions in many ways.
The old premises in North Grimsby had actually been built in 1784 as a church. By 1870 it was a flax store. In 1941 it was taken over as an emergency fire station. Despite the difficulties the part-time firemen had attained a speedy turn-out and efficient standards.

RECRUITING BOOST

One of the benefits of the new station was the boost it would give to recruitment. In order to do his job the fireman had to be devoted to duty, as the work involved him in danger. Morale was vital and the new station would help with that.
In a year Arbroath firemen tackled about 100 fires. There was a big fire risk on farms and in factories. The station existed not only to put out fires but also to reduce fire risks to the minimum. Advice was always available to those wishing to reduce risk of fire, People should try to prevent fires happening rather than waiting for them to happen before taking action.
Firemaster Gibson paid tribute to the firemen, even though they had been unable to stay and hear him. They had worked very hard indeed under difficult conditions to reach their standard of efficiency, he said. They had put their backs into it. An interesting point about the new station was that nearly all the work had been done by local firms.
In the absence of Mrs Gardner, Mrs Urquhart completed the ceremony of opening the station by pushing the button which opens the electrically-operated front doors.
A demonstration alarm call had been arranged but, as Provost Urquhart had remarked, this had been superseded by the real thing.
Sub Officer Duncan Wallace was to have handed a commemorative gift to Provost Gardner, and Fireman Charlie Borland was to have presented Mrs Urquhart with a bouquet. As both were at the Guthrie fire, Assistant Divisional Officer Sloan handed over both gifts.
(The Arbroath Herald, Friday, March 27, 1959. Page 3.)

1963 Approval was obtained for a change of duty system, from retained to whole time with a retained complement, in the Burgh of Arbroath. This will necessitate major alterations to Station premises, and in anticipation of these works being completed recruitment and training of the additional personnel will proceed during 1964.
This approved establishment of whole time personnel for this Station will be 22 men including a residential Station Officer in Charge.
1963 Major alterations and extensions were started at Arbroath for the purpose of providing the aaccommodation and amenities necessary to allow the station manning system in this Brigade to be changed from  retained to wholetime. These works besides providing messing, dormitory and other necessary facilities, will also include a hose tower and breathing apparatus training room. Contracts were placed, and together with professional services, it is estimated that the cost will approximate £26,000.
The alterations, assisted by the mild winter, have proceeded within schedule and it is anticipated that the reconstruction will be completed around September/October, 1964.

1963 The Sub Officers who were Officers in Charge of Arbroath, Montrose, Brechin and Forfar were upgraded to the rank of Station Officers as provided for in the Brigade Administration Scheme.