Here is a list of some fightfighter "speak" you might hear
   when talking fire brigade history with a "Firie".

Firie

SES

"Did you press the button

on your way through"

The horses lived in stables and yards at the fire stations so they were always ready to answer the call of the alarm bells.

The moment the alarm bells rang, the stable doors would open automatically and the well trained fire horses would move straight into position ready for their harness to be lowered over their heads securing their fire fighting appliance (cart).

The fire station doors would open and off the horses would gallop toward the fire under the direction of their driver, the "teamster". People who lived near the fire station, knew to stay off the road when they heard the fire alarm sound, to avoid being trampled by the galloping horses.

Horses had to wait patiently whilst the fire fighting team fought the fire.

One famous horse, Titan, would wander over to the crowd for pats and treats while waiting for his fire fighters to finish his work. Titan was known for "kissing" the ladies.

Another horse, stationed at the Brighton Fire Station approx. 1908, decided he did not like waiting around to see the fires put out. As soon as his fire fighters dismounted at the fire....he would turn around and head straight back to the fire station on his own..! He received an early retirement...!

Horses were eventually replaced by steam and petrol driven fire appliances like the "Hotchkiss Hose Carriage" first purchased in 1913.

Horses, stables, paddocks and blacksmith workshops were changed into motor bays, engine workshops and garages.

Imagine what a fire fighter from 1890 would think of today's well-equipped "fire trucks"...!!

When the fire alarm sounded, the fire fighters needed to quickly get up, get dressed and get downstairs onto the fire appliance to rush to the fire.

Stairs were slow and dangerous for sleepy, rushing fire fighters.

The first "fire pole", a wooden pole, was installed at the Melbourne Fire Brigade headquarters (now the Fire Services Museum), 1893.

Fire fighters had to be careful sliding down the wooden poles as the poles caused "friction burns" to any bare skin which touched the pole whilst sliding. Fire fighters had to learn to hold on mainly with their arms and legs which were covered by their uniform.

Brass poles eventually replaced the wooden poles some years later and still remain popular with fire fighters and visitors to fire stations...

The theme for the mural is the Greek Legend of Fire.

The legend begins with young Phaeton, son of Helios the Sun God, driving his father's fiery "sun" chariot across the sky, but he loses control of the stampeding horses only to plunge closer and closer towards the earth. At the last moment he gains control again and veers the fiery chariot away from the earth, but he has come too close to the earth and the fire from the chariot starts enormous fires killing nearly all the people and vegetation.

The mighty Zeus, the strongest and most powerful god of them all, hearing of the disater became very angry with Phaeton and struck him with a thunderbolt......ouch.

Many years later the earth was re populated by the gods, Epimetheus and Prometheus, but the people were very cold and they huddled in caves all the time. Prometheus wanted to give his people something that would make them powerful. He decided that the best gift he could give them was Fire.

Prometheus travelled deep into the heavens and found Zeus, keeper of the fire. Prometheus stole fire from the sun. Quickly he sped back to earth to give the fire to his people. Zeus was furious with Prometheus for stealing the fire. Zeus punished Prometheus. Zeus also sent a woman called Pandora to punish the earth people. He gave Pandora a magic box and told her not to open it. Pandora came to the earth. She was very curious about the box and could not resist opening it. The box contained all the miseries of sickness, greed, envy, jealousy and all the destructive elements of Fire. All these miseries poured out onto the earth. Pandora slammed the lid closed but only one thing was left in the box. Hope.

And so the legend goes, since that time, miseries and fire have spread over the earth tormenting the people.

Thank heavens for fire fighters...!!

The mural on the MFB Building in Albert Street depicts this Legend of Fire. Take a look next time you visit the Fire Services Museum.

Fire fighters would take turns to stand in the watch tower and look out for suspicious puffs of smoke rising throughout the city.

As most people did not have telephones to report fires, spotting the smoke from the tower or hearing a street fire alarm, would often be the first indication that a fire was in progress and that the Fire Brigade would soon be called out.

"Tower duty was worked in one-hour shifts with no chairs or ledge to sit on to make sure the firefighter on duty was awake. The firefighter in the tower had to walk around continuously, pushing buttons at regular intervals to prove that he was awake and watching all the time." taken from "Life Under the Bells"

On a trip to Paris, France, Stein saw that the French firefighters had stylish, shiny, protective helmets as part of their regular uniform.

Stein found a manufacturer to craft the helmets, Merryweather & Sons of England. The MFB purchased helmets for all their firefighters.

After World War II it became difficult to import goods from England so an Australian company, Rider & Bell, started to manufacture the helmets.

The Fire Services Museum Victoria has English and Australian made helmets on display.

In 1891, the MFB had only two extension ladders. One of which was an old imported fire ladder which took 15 minutes to put up.

As buildings in the city were built taller, ladders needed to be longer to elevate fire fighters and water hoses up to the height of the fire.

Many of the early ladders were very difficult to manage. The first ladders were pulled to the fire by the firefighters, then they were designed to be pulled by fire horses, later by steam engines and finally were motorised and petrol driven.

All early ladders had to be extended by hand...phew.

Fire fighters were pleased when in 1909 the MFB imported the Morris Magirus extension fire fighting ladder which was extended by "carbonic acid gas under pressure". In 1922 the MFB engineers constructed an 88 feet "petrol electric" ladder.

Ladder technology continued to streamline and by 1939 the Brigade were the proud owners of the "modern", reliable and functional Leyland Metz all steel 126ft ladder.

The Turnout Tunic was introduced into the MFB by it's first Chief Officer, Chief Officer Stein.

The watchman's clock was installed with a clock and an alarm.

The watchman on duty was responsible for marking a point on the clock at fixed intervals to prove that he was awake and watching for fires all the duty time.

If he did not mark the clock, a special alarm would ring in the fire station to alert others that there was a problem.

A firefighter's wages would be docked or he would be fined if he did not mark the clock properly. This strict rule ensured that the firefighter stayed awake and watchful throughout his duty shift.

Equipped with a rear mounted 600 gallons per minute (3,0000 L/m) centrifugal pump driven by a power take off, fitted at MFB Workshops, 1942. The distinctive feature of this vehicle is the large "rose bowl" type collector head fitted to the pump. This allows up to six hose line to be used to feed the pump. This vehicle remained in service until 1972.

These tankers were the first vehicles designed and built for the newly formed C.F.A. in the late 1940's. The original tank fitted a capacity of 300 gallons (1300L.). First used in service by the Colbinabbin Rural Fire Brigade in Northern Victoria in the early 1950's. Some late model Austins were still in service as recently as 1990.

These vehicles were built throughout the 1950's and 60's for the Country Fire Authority in Victoria by several body builders and later by the Authority workshops at Ballarat. The pump is a front mounted "Thompson" 350 G.P.M. (1,570L/m) fitted to an Austin chassis. The side compartments carry approximately 1,200 ft. (350m) of hose, fittings, adaptors and tools. Later models were fitted with larger pumps and water tanks. This vehicle has served with Ararat, Newstead and Trentham Brigades.

More Details: [click here]

The International Hose Carriage/Pumper series was in commission from 1959 to 1970 with engines ranging in horsepower from 32.6 - 34 HP (24.3 - 25.4 Kw).

More Details: [click here]

Dennis Brothers introduced a 30 cwt (1.5 Tonne) truck chassis in 1925. These were very popular as delivery vans, and included many novel features for their time. This led to their adoption in a wide variety of other roles. In 1926 a lengthened version of the 30 cwt chassis was offered as a light Fire Appliance. These relatively inexpensive machines proved extremely popular, especially as the looming depression caused local authorities to begin severely restricting their budgets.

Novel features included four wheel brakes, and pneumatic tyres (both fitted at a time when official regulations still prevented their general use in England, and in part were instrumental in changing perceptions on the efficiency of these items), one piece cast cylinder blocks cast all in one piece with the crankcase, and a clutch housing and gearbox all bolted together in a single unit, and the mounting of all these items direct onto the chassis, instead of separate sub - frames.

With the basic 36 B.h.p. motors a variety of different size pumps could be fitted to meet the customer's requirements. Large numbers of these vehicles were exported to the "Dominions".

The main body style followed the traditional "Braidwood" layout. Although some examples came as specialised appliances e.g. Salvage, or Emergency Tenders. As often happens with Fire Appliances, the chassis is superseded for a variety of reasons, but the pumps are still sound, and are remounted onto the replacement vehicle. It was probably for this reason that this vehicle is no longer fitted with a pump, although the mounting points show definite signs of having a pump fitting in place at some time.

This Appliance is originally from New South Wales, and H.F.E.A.A. published records indicate that it may have been from a large group (28 vehicles in all) titled "DENNIS 250 sv." and fitted with a 250 G.P.M. pumps. These vehicles were progressively commissioned between 1927 and 1930. It is believed to have served at Thyrrell.

A number of similar vehicles, from batches imported from England, also operated in Melbourne, and Country Victoria.

For the technically, or statistically minded, the following details are on the builders plate, still mounted on the front fire wall:

During this period (1960 - 1970) all Metropolitan Fire Stations were equipped with these vehicles.

This vehicle was commissioned into service with the Forests Commission of Victoria (now the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources) on the 2nd of October, 1975. It is still a fully commissioned "reserve" tanker with the Fire Management Branch of the Department (although it wears the "old" Forests Commission logos), but has been housed in the Museum since December 1994.

The original purchase price of the vehicle was $8884.00, and was built up at the Forests Commission Fire Protection Workshops, Kyle Road, North Altona, workshops, it was issued to the Kallista depot on the 10th of October, 1975.

All of its working life, except when on task forces attending major fires, was in the Kallista - Gembrook areas of the Dandenong Ranges.

As originally fitted out (direct quote from workshops log sheet) it was:
Fitted with 16 H.P. "Briggs & Stratton No. 8" pump, (Honda Pump of equivalent capacity now installed) fitted with control linkages, hand primed pump, and "super trap" muffler. 5 synthetic hoses with quick release couplings (Nos.: 118 - 122). Driver side front tray made removable. "Stortz" couplings fitted to suction line, blank caps fitted, 2 x 15 Ft. (4 M.) suction hoses supplied with "Stortz" couplings. Battery charger re - coupled behind driver side seat. Mudguard front of rear wheels removed & replaced with mud flaps. Tie rod guard fitted to front axle. Voltmeter fitted to dash. Quick release couplings fitted to delivery sides of front tray. Quick release couplings fitted to 2 directors.