大象传媒

My name is Charles Harwood. I was born in London in 1910. Before the war started I signed up with the Auxiliary Fire Service. During 1938 and 1939 I continued working as a bricklayer. One or two evenings a week I would leave work and go to my local fire station for training. This training included knot-tying, training on equipment, ladders, extinguishers, pumps and jumping sheets. We also had lectures on hydraulics, water pressure, water losses and safety issues.

On the Friday evening before war was declared a message was broadcast on the wireless ordering all civil defence and fire brigade personnel to report to their local fire stations.

I went home from work, had my tea, said goodbye to my wife and reported to Tooting Fire Station. At midnight the same day those of us who were to be drivers were taken to Fulham cab garage. As each cab came it was comandeered, fitted with a tow bar ready for a trailer pump. We drove these cabs back to the main fire station. By now it was the middle of the night and we were ordered into a builders yard 'Carmichael's' Wandsworth Common. We filled some old sacks with straw and slept on them.

Within a week we moved into schools which had become our substations. I was stationed at U86 Tranmere Road Earlsfield. I became part of blue watch.Although we were drawn from many different backgrounds we soon became a good team. It was vital that we worked together.I had been a bricklayer. We had a boxer , a wrestler, office workers, a piano tuner Harry Goodall, a cocktail waiter, Harry Varden who was a clarinetist and Ben Betts who was a well known cartoonist in our substation. We slept partly dressed. As soon as the bells went down we jumped up, carried our clothes and were ready to go.

The first wartime fire I attended was at Woolwich Arsenal. I was driving a cab and trailer. As we drove in the Arsenal was ablaze. The officers were leading the way in. The fire was out of control and there was no water. After a while we drove back to Tooting. As we looked back towards the docks it looked as if the whole of London, particularly the docks were on fire. It was terrible. We arrived back exhausted but had turn out to 2 more fires that night. We returned to our station exhausted and soaked. We only had one uniform so drying it before the meagre open fire we had was very difficult. We were only allowed one coal scuttle of coal per day.

During lull periods we had drills and exercises. We had to have a turn in the kitchen, gate duties, watchroom duties in addition to all our firefighting. There was great emphasis on keeping our equipment and uniforms clean and in good order. On average we worked 120 hours a week. Our wages were 拢3 per week. Until the Blitz started other civilians said this was ' money for old rope'.

However, when the Blitz started people began to realise the vital role we were playing. Gradually the taxis were phased out and purpose built tenders were provided. I drove my tender and night after night through the blackout. Our headlights were masked. There was a tiny slit in the mask which allowed the smallest glimmer of light to be shown. Every night we were sent to fight fires in different parts of London. I drove to the Elephant and Castle, Blackfriars, Clerkenwell,the East End and the city of London.

As you left your station on a call you never knew what you were going to find. One night in particular I remember I was driving towards the fires. I didn't know where we were and the sight, sound and smell of fire was strong. I felt I was entering the gates of hell.

On another night my crew and I were sent to Bow. Just before were arrived about 30 of our colleagues from Beckenham and Penge fire stations were killed when a land mine exploded.

On another occasion we were called to Cavendish Road School, another local substation. On arrival we found 12 fireman and 1 firewoman had been killed by a bomb falling on their mess hut as they sat to eat. It was our job to try to retrieve the bodies. I had lived in this area all my life and knew well a couple of the men who had been killed. The organisation 'Firemen Remembered' has recently ensured that a plaque has beeen put up in their memory.

I also was sent by the Fire Brigade to the major fires at Pymouth and Devonport.

I was on duty in London on the night the Fire Brigade were striving to keep St. Paul's Cathedral safe.

As well all my firefighting duties I continued to use my bricklaying skills. In lull periods I was foreman of a group of men building water dams and watchrooms. There are photographs of me on one of the building projects in the Fire Brigade Archives.
The hours were long and the work was exhausting. In our 'spare time' we kept pigs which were sold to the ministry of food. Some of us made wooden toys for orphaned children.

I served in the Fire Brigade throughout the war becoming a member of the National Fire Service when it replaced the AFS. I was asked to stay on after the war but was unable to because I wore glasses.
Winston Churchill caled us 'heroes with grimy faces' but I sometimes think we were Britain's forgotten army and our contribution to the defence of the country has been undervalued.

Over 50 years after the end I was taken, by present day firefighters, back to Tooting Fire Station which had been my main station during the war.

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