大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Morwenna Nadar of CSV/大象传媒 LONDON on behalf of Ron Fisher and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

In 1944, when I was 16 years old, I started work as an apprentice plater and boiler-maker with May and Bakers, the big pharmaceutical chemists in Dagenham, Essex. When I started my weekly pay was 2s. 6d. but this later went up to 拢1. My working day was spent right beside a boiling hot furnace, wielding huge 7lb. and 14lb hammers. It was hot and tiring work but I got used to it. Because there were so many chemicals in our works, even a little bomb would send everything sky-high so fire duty was very important. We all had to do a stint so as well as being an apprentice, I became a part-time fireman! I started in a private fire service but in 1944 the National Fire Service was formed and it took over all the other ones.

Every 3rd night I had to be on fire duty. I would work a full day wielding my hammers beside the furnace, go over to the clock-house, clock out, clock in again, go over to the fire-station, change into the uniform, and then return to the factory for the night. In the morning, I repeated the process and did another full day鈥檚 work without having had any proper sleep. Looking back, I am quite surprised that accidents did not happen as we must have been very tired, but at the time we all seemed to cope with our double duties. My father was in charge of the fire rotas and he managed to organise it so that he and I were never on the same shift, so there was always one of us at home with my mother and sister. However, we always had spare uniforms at home in case of an emergency because then everyone had to turn out. We were paid 9d. (just under 4p. in today鈥檚 money) an hour for the time we were on fire duty and we never had a whole weekend off.

One night, when I was on duty, thousands of incendiary bombs fell on and around our premises. There was a nearby 160 foot high water tower but the cast iron water main from it was burst so the fire hydrant was out of action. We had 2 ornamental ponds at the front of the grounds but they did not hold enough water so we had to top up from a big sandpit that was on the other of the railway. It took around 20 of our crew 45 minutes to set it all up. The next morning we had to search for any bombs that were lying about. When we found them, we just picked them up and carried them in our arms to the main gate where they were left for collection by the Bomb Disposal Unit! Another time the sodium store was hit and lost its roof. There was a huge blaze, made worse by the pouring rain because water makes sodium explode. A sodium fire can only be put out by using dry powder. The only large quantity of powder that we had was 20 bags of cement stored at the other end of the factory. So, in the rain, we formed a chain and dumped all the cement on the fire. You can imagine the resulting mess!

There was an anti-aircraft gun very near my home and I remember running home and dodging to avoid all the shrapnel that was flying around. After a raid, the children used to go out and collect the bits of shrapnel to keep as souvenirs. One time, a bomb fell down a manhole in the garden. Our neighbours lost the top part of their house so they moved in with us and for a while there were 14 people crowded into one house! We all had to carry our gas-masks wherever we went, even on fire-duty. Young children had Mickey Mouse ones, and there were ones for babies up to 1 year old that enveloped the child completely. The baby was put inside and secured safely by a strap that was fastened between the legs. There was a pump attached and, when the child was in the mask, this had to continuously pumped by hand.

After the war was over, I still had to do National Service so I applied to go into the Navy but there were no vacancies at that time in my trade, so I landed up in the Army Fire Service. While I was waiting to go in, I was still in my same job but we only had to do fire-duty every 6th night and the pay went up to 2s.3d. (about 11p.). I spent most of my National Service in Venice, based on the fire boat which was moored at the island of St. Georgia, opposite St. Mark鈥檚 Square. The Venice HQ of 86 Area covered the whole of North Italy and it was not until around 1947 that the last of the troops finally moved from South Italy via the North to Germany.

Uniforms then were very thick and heavy, and when they got wet they doubled in weight Even so, it would take a fireman only 9 seconds to get up a ladder from the ground to the 3rd floor, and 15 seconds to rescue and bring a man down. The women who were in the fire -service worked as messengers and dispatch-riders. In 1947 the Fire Services Act was passed. This came into force on the 1st of April, 1948 and laid down that all Local Authorities must provide over the border help. Prior to this, crews were meant to restrict the service to their own area. When my army days were over, I made the Fire Service my career and have never regretted doing so.

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