These stunning images chart the history of the London Fire Brigade including photos of them battling some of the capital’s most notorious blazes.
From dealing with a bus crashing through the front of a Cannon Street shop to spectacular training exercises in the 1930s, the fascinating photos provide a glimpse of the brigade’s activities over 150 years.
They also show how fire crews tackled some of the city’s most dangerous disasters, including the Moorgate Tube crash in 1975 which saw 43 people killed and a further 74 injured.
More than 1,000 firefighters tackled the subsequent six-day rescue operation in searing 33C heat and thick dust.
Four decades earlier in 1931, crews were taking on a fire at the seven-storey Butler’s Wharf warehouse, despite temperatures so cold the water from their hoses turned to ice.
And the photos also give a poignant reminder of the dangers this city’s firemen and women have always faced, with a picture showing a tribute to Colin Townsley, who died battling the King’s Cross station blaze of 1987.
Further images chronicle the change in firefighters’ equipment, from their old-style helmets, fire engines and gas masks to today’s cutting-edge technology.
Many of the photos have been released in a book to mark the brigade’s 150th anniversary year.
London’s fire service formed in 1866 as the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, after insurance companies complained to the government about spiralling compensation costs in the capital.
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