THE HEROES WITH GRIMY FACES

While Armistice Day rightly tends to focus on military personnel who gave their lives for their country, we must never forget the bravery of firefighters... more than 1,000 of whom were killed during the Second World War

- By Andy Saunders

MORE than 1,000 frontline firefighters would lose their lives while on duty during the Second World War. A vital part of Britain's defence, they were, according to Winston Churchill, "a grand lot", the "heroes with grimy faces". The wartime PM went on to add that "their work must never be forgotten".

Such accolades, however, were not initially at the forefront of the public's perception of fire brigades or those who volunteered to serve in them. Ridiculed as 'shirkers' or 'Army dodgers', or even cowards, by a British public yet to experience the horror of Luftwaffe bombing attacks, firefighters during the early period of the war were initially given a hard time.

To make matters worse, a firefighter was paid significantly more than a regular private soldier in the Army. It rubbed salt into the perceived wounds. For the most part, the civilian population could see little purpose in a greatly expanded fire service.

That expansion, during the Munich crisis of 1938, also saw the formation of the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS).

Later, on August 18, 1941, the disparate fire brigades across the country, alongside the AFS, were formed into a new unified fire authority, The National Fire Service (NFS).

By the outbreak of war on September 3, 1939, when vast swathes of the male population were called up for military service, some 23,000 auxiliary firemen had already been mobilised to supplement the 2,700 regular London Fire Brigade personnel. Later, an astonishing 70,000 citizens (men and women) would volunteer for fire service duty across the nation.

But any perception of Britain's firefighters being nothing more than draft-dodging shirkers would evaporate on September 7, 1940. That day the Luftwaffe launched direct round-the-clock attacks on London as the Battle of Britain morphed into the Blitz with air raids moving away from military and industrial targets to target the capital instead.