The first fire brigade appeared in
Kent in 1802, when the Kent Fire Office formed an
insurance brigade in
Deptford (which was at the time part of Kent). In the same year, and completely separately from
insurance companies,
Hythe became the first town in
Kent to set up its own fire brigade, followed by
Ashford in 1826. By the 20th century, it was quite fashionable for local authorities to have their own fire brigades.
Maidstone had seen the formation of its borough fire brigade in 1901, when the Royal Insurance Company provided a new
Shand Mason horse-drawn steam fire engine, named The Queen. This company had taken over the Kent Fire Office in the same year, simultaneously disbanding their own brigade. Things often became very competitive between individual town and village brigades, in many instances, each one trying to outdo its neighbour. In 1910,
Bromley became the first town in Kent to house motorised
fire engines, with two new
Merryweather vehicles being stationed there. Until 1938, the provision of a fire brigade was a discretionary power, and naturally there were a few local authorities that regarded it as an unnecessary expense. However, due to the threat of war,
Parliament enacted the
Fire Brigades Act 1938 (
1 & 2 Geo. 6. c. 72) and made it a duty and so created over 1,600 individual fire authorities across the nation. It was these local brigades and the
Auxiliary Fire Service – also formed in 1938 – that valiantly coped with the consequences of the
Battle of Britain and much of
The Blitz. In August 1941, local brigades and the
AFS were absorbed into one organisation called The
National Fire Service. It was in 1941 that the current Headquarters house The Godlands was requisitioned for war-time use by the
National Fire Service and it has remained with the
fire service ever since.
World War II brought dark days indeed for
Kent fire-fighters.
Fire-fighting has been and will probably always be a dangerous occupation, and the
Roll of Honour 1899-1990, details the deaths of Kent fire-fighters while on duty. Of the 122 'Kent' names listed, 15 were pre-1939, 16 were post-1939 and 91 died during World War II. Nationally, well over 1,000 fire-fighters died during World War II, with stories of
fire stations and the water supplies needed for fire-fighting being targeted by German
bombers, to maximise the damage caused by
incendiary bombs. The last death on duty of a Kent fire-fighter was in 1990. The
fire service was returned to local authority control on 1 April 1948 under the
Fire Services Act 1947, with responsibility in
England and
Wales being given to the 146 counties and county boroughs of the day. The County of Kent and the City and County Borough of
Canterbury combined to form Kent Fire Brigade, taking over 79 fire stations from the National Fire Service. Subsequent local government reorganisations have had their effect upon the brigade, most significantly in 1965 when eight fire stations in the northwest of the county were transferred to the newly created
Greater London area. Further reorganisation in 1974 saw
Canterbury lose its county borough status and the fire brigade became the exclusive responsibility of
Kent County Council. In 1998, the structure of local government changed again and
Kent combined with the new
Medway Towns unitary authority for fire brigade provision. On 1 October 2003, Kent Fire Brigade was renamed Kent Fire and Rescue Service to better reflect the requirements demanded of it for many years. These changes were reflected nationally by the enactment of the
Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 which came into effect on 1 October 2004. In the spring of 2011, Kent Fire and Rescue underwent changes to its structure, these included restructuring from three divisions to fivearea groups: North Kent, East Kent, West Kent, South Kent and Mid Kent. Each group consists of a number of clusters, which are made up of a number of certain stations where resources are locally managed. The Letter prefix for each division was dropped in the station call sign, for instance Swanley, under the old system was named as Station S31 the S standing for South Division, now it is just Station 31. On 1 January 2017 Kent Fire & Rescue Service ceased Watches and changed to Flexible rostering with every station. This meant all members of staff had to work a 'Contractual number of shifts over the course of each
calendar year'. == Fire station crewing==