#fire-brigade — Public Fediverse posts

If we breach climate tipping points, climate change will continue even if we do reach net zero.

A letter to the Sheffield Star.

Dear Editor

In Friday’s Star, you highlighted a quote from Baroness Brown, who chairs the Climate Change Committee’s adaptation work. She said, “It gets worse from here. Until we get to Net Zero, things go on getting worse.”

Unfortunately, they may carry on getting far worse after we reach Net Zero. 

We are dangerously close to climate tipping points, and if these are breached, our planet will no longer be a safe home for us. For instance, if the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation collapses, our weather will be like the Ice Age in winter and extremely hot in summer, making it impossible to grow crops. Or if giant ice sheets collapse in the Arctic or Antarctic, sea levels will rise and likely flood most of our best agricultural land. Or when areas of the tundra melt, large emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane will be released, further increasing climate change.

Governments must stop dilly-dallying and get on a war footing to end our addiction to fossil fuels. They should be showing the Climate Emergency Briefing film to the public so everyone understands the extreme threats we face. Baroness Brown is right about one thing: this isn’t the new normal. Things will continue to get worse, so we need massive investment in adaptation so we can cope better with extreme heat, floods, fires, droughts, and storms. 

As we have watched awful fires scorch many of our green spaces this week, it gives me no pleasure to say, “I told you this would happen”. And still, the Fire Brigade lacks the resources needed to adequately cope with so many fires. We don’t even have a single firefighting plane in this country. 

Instead of leading on adaptation to keep us safe, Andy Burnham is expanding airports and debating opening yet more climate-changing oil and gas fields in the North Sea. Surely this record-breaking summer should be a wake-up call for him?

Yours sincerely

Graham Wroe

Fire services: ‘Save 999 calls for emergencies – not dobbing in next door’s BBQ’

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://metro.co.uk/2026/08/15/fire-services-save-999-calls-emergencies-not-dobbing-next-doors-bbq-29382794/

#LFB ( #London #FireBrigade ) appliances now assisting #Suffolk FRS in dealing with the incident..

Here's just a brain fart, that I've had for many a year, with regards to national disasters, like flooding and wildfires.

Why aren't the military called in much sooner?

They might not know how to handle a hose. But they know how to move big heavy equipment over difficult terrain fast. And they know teamwork, clear communication under stress and have learned how to adapt fast.

I'm sure if the fire brigade tell the soldiers that they need a 200m hose up a moorland, this would happen without much fuss and training. Or they need 20.000 gallons with a generator and pump delivered to a trick point in the half an hour, this would be provided double fast. And then the fire brigade is free to fight the fire. Same goes for flooding, sand bags (soldiers knows sandbags), digging and rescue of civilians or just simply delivery of food and drinks to the fire brigade.

Why aren't they called in right away, not when the fire brigade are on their knees, peoples lives are at risk. Sometimes I hear that the fire brigade have lost personnel and a emergency declaration is called, before extra resources are called in, why wait?

If the country ain't at war, there would be soldiers at hand ready to deploy, even the Territorial Army/Army Reserve in the UK. I have seen China and Japan having this support/deployment happen double fast.

At the very least the military would get a "free" train session out if it. 10-15 soldiers and a lorry or a 4x4 vehicle wouldn't cost much but would help the emergency responses so much.

#WildFires #Emergency #Flooding #Help #FireBrigade

Today's photo: Museumplein (1899).

[EN] People watch a parade celebrating the 25th anniversary of the professional fire brigade. The Concertgebouw is visible in the background.

[NL] De mensen kijken naar een parade ter gelegenheid van het 25-jarig bestaan van de beroepsbrandweer. Op de achtergrond het Concertgebouw.

Via https://020apps.nl/olie/random/ #Amsterdam #JacobOlie #Museumplein #Concertgebouw #fireBrigade #crowd #parade

Up in Smoke: the thread about Princes Street’s fiery history

Just before three o’clock in the morning on Thursday 9th July (2026 for future readers) a well-established fire was discovered in central Edinburgh. Video clips soon circulate on social media and even from distant vantage points flames could be seen leaping into an already smoky night sky. It did not take long for on-the-spot eyewitnesses to share dramatic, close-up footage confirming a building on Princes Street was ablaze. These videos spread as quickly as the flames had and armchair spectators quickly took to arguing amongst themselves about the details. It was the former Debenhams department store that was ablaze, or was it? Doesn’t this sort of thing only happen in Glasgow? Did it have anything to do with ground floor shop units recently exposed as being part of a complex tax scam? Which hotel development scheme was the site part of? Some were sure it was an “insurance job”, others that it must be the work of an illicit vape shop. Few thought any interiors would survive, but would the B-listed Victorian façade?

As the smoke cleared in the cold light of day, a burnt-out, smouldering shell of a building emerged. From the level of devastation it was obvious that answers to questions like those above would be a long time coming. Indeed, two weeks later at the time of writing, this whole street block remains closed for the foreseeable future. For a city well into its summer tourist boom and with its August festivals rapidly approaching, the fact its principal public transport artery remains categorically shut demonstrates the severity of the matter. Threadinburgh is not in the business of hazarding guesses about what might have happened or speculating about what the future holds, but it very much is into telling stories of the history of buildings. The opportunity also presents itself to take a thematic trawl through the news archives for a retrospective look at other serious fires that have happened along the street. These it turns out are nothing new it and very much are not just a “Glasgow thing“. Flames have a bit of a habit of breaking out when buildings are vacant or being redeveloped and have claimed more than one department store on the street in its time.

A point that has proven unexpectedly contentious is what actually was on fire? The categoric answer is number 109 Princes Street and very definitely a part of the former Debenhams department store. Some have sworn blind that it very much was not part of that establishment. Perhaps their confusion can be forgiven; it was an expansive place with a convoluted floorplan, formed from multiple original buildings. At street level the vacant shop units directly beneath the fire still showed branding of their previous occupants: River Island and Levi’s. But as is common along Princes Street, different premises extend above, below and behind each other and it is not always obvious from the looking at the shopfronts how upper floors are related to the lower ones. This is all the result of two centuries of constant rebuilding and redevelopment. The diagram below hopefully clears things up for any remaining doubters and helps relate the different constituent parts of the store to their former occupants. These premises have been largely vacant since closure in early 2021, shortly before the company went under. The entire block, from 109-112 Princes Street, was purchased by offshore-held property company Criterion Capital and was awaiting redevelopment into a Zedwell chain hotel. (To confuse matters somewhat, the next door block from number 104-108 – the former Zara, Russell & Bromley and Next – are also currently going being redeveloped into a hotel for the Ruby chain.)

Like most “old” buildings along Princes Street, number 109 is not a Georgian original but actually a Victorian replacement. It began life in 1871 as The Palace Hotel, a new building by architect John Lessels. In 1888 this establishment moved a few doors to the west, to a more prestigious location on the corner with Castle Street. The original building was taken over at this time by the Scottish Liberal Club, a politically-aligned gentlemen’s club.

The Club paid £37,000 for the building and undertook “alterations of an extensive character in order to make it suitable for its new purpose” at a cost of £6,000 before occupying it. Facilities included reading, writing and smoking rooms on the first floor; billiards, cards, members’ dining and committee rooms on the second; and thirty one bedrooms above that. They inaugurated their new premises on the evening of 2nd April 1890 in a ceremonial dinner presided over by Archibald Primrose, Lord Rosebery. In his speech he quipped that their former home had many small rooms “in which the different sections of the Liberal party might discuss questions from the various points of view from which they regarded them” but now they were moving themselves to the centre of the “noblest street in the world” they might come together as a result. He also noted in jest that they were only one door removed from the rival institution of the Scottish Conservative Club at number 112. They had taken over the former Alma Hotel in 1877 and had a new club built on the same site by Robert Rowand Anderson in 1884. His Lordship joked that potential members for either club may go in the wrong doors and join with their opponents in error.

That previous Liberal clubhouse noted in the speech was at the furthest west corner of Princes Street, a building they had taken over from the Osborne Hotel. On 19th December 1879 this had been badly damaged by a fire that broke out in the roof of its corner turret. Much of the upper level of the building was destroyed and yet more damage was done to floors below by water that had poured through as a result of ineffective fire-fighting attempts. The Club had only taken possession of these premises 10 days earlier. They were able to return the following March after repairs, comparing photos from before and after shows that uppermost storeys of the corner turret were completely rebuilt in a subtly different style. They left this site seven years later on account of it being taken over by drapers Robert Maule & Sons,who progressively converted it into a department store. This would become the local landmark and meeting point of choice known as Maule’s Corner. Maules would be taken over in 1934 by Binns of Sunderland, who rebuilt the store in a contemporary style.

The Liberals would remain at number 109, with shops in the ground floor units, until 1977. At this juncture its dwindling membership agreed to sell the building, to avoid a costly repair bill, and disseminate the profits amongst themselves. This caused something of a controversy as a sizeable minority wanted the money to go instead towards the Liberal political cause (a fuller history of the Club can be read on their website here.) Two doors down at number 112, the Caledonian Club had downsized to smaller premises on Abercromby Place in 1975 (the name had changed following the 1969 merger of the Conservative Club with the Caledonian United Service & Northern Club, itself formed by the merger of three clubs). This club had been unable to meet its running costs on Princes Street, partly as the result of fire damage caused in June 1974. An 18-year old waiter employed by the club was later charged with three counts of culpable and reckless fire raising and two of wilful fire raising. He was found guilty and sentenced to three years probation.

At this time the whole row on Princes Street from the Liberal Club at 109 to the Conservative Club at 112 was acquired by the chain Debenhams Ltd for conversion into a department store. What most people have probably never appreciate is that behind the Victorian façades of these buildings, the insides were completely gutted and almost nothing original was retained. The only principal original feature that was retained at 112 was Rowand Anderson’s grand staircase, although it was relocated to the back of the building, along with its impressive stained glass windows dedicated to Benjamin Disraeli. (Hopefully its position here has saved it from fire damage)

At number 109 the most substantial retained feature was from the Gladstone Library: wooden panelling complete with bookshelves, fireplace, large brass plaque featuring a passage by Francis Bacon from Of Studies and a bust of William Ewart Gladstone. This was latterly used as a shop floor divider but it is highly probably that it has not survived the fire intact. Fortunately the Gladstone bust had been removed in recent years to the care of the Scottish Liberal Club and is therefore safe (you can read a bit more on the Scottish Liberal Club website).

Behind 112, on the opposite side of Rose Street South Lane, a warehouse and loading bay was built, connected over the street by a two-storey corridor that also extended the store all the way through to an entrance at 144-150 Rose Street. To join the Liberal and Conservative halves of the store together the intermediate building at 111 – the former Lotus & Delia shoe shop – was demolished and replaced by a modern, glass-fronted link building. It is of interest that Debenham’s was the first major redevelopment on Princes Street after the 1978 abandonment of Sir William Kininmonth’s Princes Street Panel. This was a masterplan for the comprehensive redevelopment of the entire street, every original building replaced by something modern that conformed to the Panel’s design standard. It mandated that the façades above ground floor level were to be set back to make room in front for a balcony. Each balcony would eventually join with its neighbours to create an end-to-end walkway above street level. There are only a few example of such Panel buildings on the street and the frontages of the former Liberal and Conservative Clubs were only able to be retained because the standard had been scrapped.

Winding the clock back over 160 years, the first really serious fire of note took place in 1860. In a curious concurrence with recent events, it involved a hotel redevelopment! The wooden scaffolding and building framework for an extension to the Balmoral Hotel above number 87-88 caught fire. This latter premises was the home of publishers Edmonston & Douglas, who were fortunately able to remove much of their stock before it was damaged by smoke or the fire brigade’s water. A far more devastating incident would occur on 26th November 1892 at the department store and warehouse of Charles Jenner & Company, which occupied the entire block fronting South St David Street as far as Rose Street.

Three steam fire engines attended and four firemen were injured in the ultimately futile attempt to extinguish the blaze, hampered by the collapse of a water main running through the store itself. Their efforts were instead directed towards trying to save the adjoining Royal Hotel, in which they were ultimately successful. When the flames had been damped down and the smoke cleared the next day, the scene of destruction was total. Jenners was fortunately well insured, as some £250,000 of damage – approximately £28 million in 2026 – was caused. Some one hundred and twenty employees, who lodged on the premises, were less lucky and lost everything except the clothes on their backs. An exact cause was never established, although it is known to have broken out in the warehouse of the drapery department after it had closed for the day at 4PM and it was not outwardly detected until after 10PM, by which time it had ample time to take. Their store, converted from the original Georgian buildings on Princes Street and early Victorian replacements on South St David Street, was rebuilt in the grand Victorian Renaissance Revival style that still graces the city to this day.

Five years later on the evening of 11th December 1897, a fire took place at number 111. This was the premises of McNab & Shepherd, drapers and silk mercers, and stood where the glass link building of Debenhams would be built over eighty years later. It was all that separated the clubs of the Conservatives at 112 and the Liberals at 109 and the members of both institutions were first on the scene. The Evening News reported that a competitive rivalry quickly established itself as hoses were run out of both buildings and amateur fire-fighting efforts commenced “with great energy“. This arrested the spread until the professionals arrived from the High Street under Firemaster Pordage, preventing a far more serious incident developing. The business was insured for the £7,000 of damage caused although £15,000 of stock was disposed of in a subsequent fire sale (respectively around £809k and £1.7 million in 2026).

It would be over half a century before the next serious blaze. This happened on November 9th 1955 when the C & A Modes department store at number 33-38 was destroyed. This building dated to 1863 and was the former Edinburgh Hotel. Firefighting efforts were hampered by the fact a similarly large and destructive blaze had broken out on Jeffrey Street just hours earlier, consuming two shoe warehouses, and fire engines had to be called from as far away as Dalkeith to assist. Rumours abounded that sparks carried from the first inferno had set the roof of C&A on fire, but investigation would find it had actually been started by an electric iron that had been left on. C&A rebuilt their store on the site, replaced in turn by a far more visually offensive modern building in 2004.

Thirty-five years on, over the course of three months in 1990 the Virgin Megastore at number 125-131 suffered a series of fires, two serious, while it was under renovation. The first on March 30th broke out in the basement but fortunately did not spread and no lasting damage was caused. A more serious event took place on May 26th in a top-floor storeroom, causing £1m of damage to stock, the collapse of the shop’s suspended ceiling and significant water damage to office premises on floors below. The company took these unfortunate events in its stride and even published humorous adverts in the Evening News to reassure customers they were still in business. In an about turn, twelve years later on 23rd July 2002 it was the water from fighting a fire in one of those second floor offices that would cause significant to Virgin’s premises and stock.

An inferno to equal that which destroyed Charles Jenner’s store almost a century before took place on the evening of June 9th 1991 at number 116-117. This was the former Palace Hotel, a five-storey, 20,000 square feet building that was vacant (there’s that word again!) at the time and on the market for offers over £2 million. It had spent a number of years in a redevelopment quagmire, closing its doors for the last time in 1989. On the night in question it was broken into by a group of youths who had been sheltering from a sudden downpour in its doorway. Venturing in to the abandoned interior to explore they lit pieces of newspaper they had found to try and light the way, some of which ended up being dropped. The fire spread with frightening speed and the group was lucky to escape with their lives, one girl found herself trapped in a toilet and had to climb out its window into the lane at the rear. Sixty firefighters and fourteen appliances under the command of Deputy Firemaster Colin Cranston battled the blaze for hours. They were able to stop the spread to adjacent premises but for the Palace Hotel there was nothing anyone could do.

The destruction was total – £11m of property damage and the remains of the structure had to be pulled down in subsequent days before it had a chance to fall down. Ironically the demolition of this listed building has been approved by the District Council’s planning committee back in 1988, to much outcry from heritage organisations, only for it to be saved when the scheme proposed for its replacement fell through. £750,000 of stock in the adjoining Debenhams store (which you will recall includes the façade of the original Palace Hotel) was smoke damaged and disposed of in a fire sale. Two 16-year-old boys were charged but the case against them was thrown out of the High Court two years later by Lord Kirkwood. His Lordship was of the opinion that the evidence presented by the prosecution was not sufficient to merit the charge of “culpable and reckless fire-raising“, he noted for the record that the accused had tried to stamp out the fire they had accidentally started.

The first serious fire in this decade took place on 19th April 2021 at none other than number 112; Debenhams! Over thirty firefighters, five fire engines and a major incident unit successfully tackled the blaze. The building had been shuttered since the Coronavirus lockdown, the company announcing in February that year they would not re-open any of their stores in Scotland and would run down those in England. The second incident was altogether more serious. On January 23rd 2023 fire once gain struck the Jenners building, also closed, vacant and under redevelopment at the time. Although the damage to the building itself would ultimately prove to be limited, the ferocity of the fire in the confused and confined building-site interior claimed the life of fire fighter Barry Martin from McDonald Road fire station. The city centre came to a standstill on 17th February for the passage of his funeral cortège.

The fire of July 2026 is the third serious fire on Princes Street this decade and is very much still a current event. What becomes of the building and Edinburgh’s public transport is very much a matter to stay tuned to reliable local news outlets for.

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Today's photo: Museumplein (1899).

[EN] Parade with steam pumper fire engines in honour of the 25th anniversary of professional firefighters. The tower in the background belongs to the Vondelkerk in […]

[NL] Parade met stoomspuiten ter gelegenheid van het 25-jarig bestaan van de beroepsbrandweer. De toren op de achtergrond is van de Vondelkerk in de Vondelstraat.

Via https://020apps.nl/olie/random/ #Amsterdam #JacobOlie #Museumplein #fireBrigade #crowd #parade #horses #Vondelkerk

"I will take the ring to the #fire of Mount Doom, through the lands of #Bermondsey, though I do not know if the trains are still running…"

"One does not simply #PARK in Bermondsey!"
"You have my hose"
"AND MY LADDER!"

Thanks to the #FireBrigade for being on the scene, and can entirely see why my train was stopped at Surrey Quays!

#London #LordOfTheRings #photography #TellingStories

Woken 50 minutes ago by neighbours car on fire (alarm going off then small explosion). Called (amongst others) fire brigade, arrived within 7 minutes, and fire (inferno) effectively extinguished within 5 minutes (thankfully before it reached the fuel tank). Excellent work by the Fire Service.
#CarFire
#FireBrigade
#Dundee
#GreatWork

"Make pumps 12" #fire at popular #LGBT+ #nightclub in SE #England

All punters evacuated, no injuries but the venue has been mostly destroyed.

#Police have made an arrest for #arson and along with #FireBrigade are investigating further..

https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2026-04-26/firefighters-remain-on-scene-afte-huge-blaze-rips-through-nightclub

“One thing that Ballantyne did, which sets him apart from contemporary children’s authors, was carry out detailed research for his novels […] He worked in a Cornish tin mine (Deep Down: a Tale of the Cornish Mines), went to the bottom of the Thames in a diving suit (Under the Waves), and for Fighting the Flames worked in a London fire station.”

#Scottish #literature #19thcentury #Victorian #kidlit #ChildrensLiterature #Ballantyne #firefighters #firebrigade

RM Ballantyne (1825–1894) was born #OTD, 24 April. Best known today for THE CORAL ISLAND – which influenced Robert Louis Stevenson, JM Barrie, William Golding, & others – he wrote more than 100 books.

In this blog post, National Library of Scotland Curator Graham Hogg introduces Ballantyne’s 1867 novel FIGHTING THE FLAMES: A Tale of the London Fire Brigade

https://blog.nls.uk/curators-favourites-r-m-ballantynes-fighting-the-flames/

#Scottish #literature #19thcentury #Victorian #kidlit #ChildrensLiterature #Ballantyne #firefighters #firebrigade

Archery Gifts Ireland – Caricature of an Archer in Woods https://www.caricatures-ireland.com/archery-gifts-ireland-caricature-of-an-archer-in-woods/ #mastoart #mastodaoine #archery #caricature #darts #recurvebow #arrows #firebrigade #cementmixer #dogs

Rawalpindi Fire: Fire Brigade Faces Major Challenges | Breaking News | Dawn News

📺 Watch Dawn News Live Stream: Rawalpindi Fire: Fire Brigade Faces Major Challenges | Breaking News | Dawn News راولپنڈی آتشزدگی: فائر بریگیڈ کو مشکلات کا سامنا #Rawalpindi #FireIncident #BreakingNews #PakistanNews #FireBrigade #EmergencyResponse #breakingnews #newsheadlines #pakistannewsurdu #livenews #latestpakistannews #latestnews #pakistannewstoday #dawnnews Dawn News TV is one of the…

https://fllics.com/en/video/rawalpindi-fire-fire-brigade-faces-major-challenges-breaking-news-dawn-news/

Firefighter wins £40,000 unfair dismissal payout after colleague read her diary

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://metro.co.uk/2025/12/02/firefighter-wins-40-000-unfair-dismissal-payout-colleague-read-private-diary-25068116/

🇬🇧
With a ceremonial opening by representatives of the municipality and the fire brigades of Texing and St. Gotthard, the exhibition “50 Years Firefighter Youth Texing‑St. Gotthard” was inaugurated last Monday.

The exhibition offers a comprehensive insight into the history, development, competitions, and the diverse work of the firefighter youth movement.

Until the end of the year, the exhibition can be visited at the municipal office #Texingtal.

#Firebrigade
#VolunteerFireDepartment
#austria

Banwell is ready!
#photography #Banwell #Somerset #FireBrigade

Today's photo: Overtoom - east (1894).

[EN] A sawmill destroyed by a fire in May 1894 attracts many spectators.

[NL] Een houtzagerij die in mei 1894 door brand was verwoest, trekt veel bekijks.

Via https://020apps.nl/olie/random/ #Amsterdam #JacobOlie #Overtoom #fireBrigade #crowd #timber

Today's photo: Levantkade | IJ (1904).

[EN] In the foreground is the brand new municipal fire brigade's fire-float Jason, which would be in use until 1963. Behind it is Levantkade, the quay of the KNSM (Royal […]

[NL] Op de voorgrond de gloednieuwe blusboot Jason van de gemeentelijke brandweer, in gebruik tot 1963. Daarachter de Levantkade, de kade van de KNSM. De schepen zijn de […]

Via https://020apps.nl/olie/random/ #Amsterdam #JacobOlie #Levantkade #IJ #KNSM #portMachines #fireBrigade

#Windowfriday 🪟

Brandweerkazerne, Wassenaar

#Brandweer #FireBrigade #Feuerwehr #Brandweerkazerne #FireStation #Feuerwehrwache #Wassenaar #ZuidHolland #Holland #Nederland #Netherlands #Niederlande #Facade #Fotografie #Photography #Snapshot #PublicDomain #VensterVrijdag #FensterFreitag

दिल्ली में दिवाली की जोरदार तैयारियां, मेट्रो के फेरे बढ़ेंगे, अस्पताल अलर्ट मोड पर।

https://aliyesha.com/sub/articles/news/display/nd_delhi_more_trains_metro_hospital_alert_diwali

#newdelhi #delhi #india #press #news #government #governance #diwali #diwali2024 #medical #hospital #police #metro #firebrigade

Enjoy tracker free reading with us. #privacy #privacymatters

Curragh Camp Fire Brigade, Co. Kildare, Ireland. c1902. The National Library of Ireland. No known copyright restrictions.

#FireBrigade #CurraghCamp #Kildare #Ireland