The Ministry of Civil Aviation Aerodrome Fire Service was a national

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

fire service A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...

which operated in

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

airports run by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. When the Ministry of Civil Aviation was established in 1946, firefighting services at its airports were originally provided by individual units at each location, answering directly to the airport manager. The following year, after a number of incidents, it was decided that this was unworkable and Sir Aylmer Firebrace, Chief of the Fire Staff of the

National Fire Service The National Fire Service (NFS) was the single fire service created in Great Britain in 1941 during the Second World War; a separate National Fire Service (Northern Ireland) was created in 1942. The NFS was created in August 1941 by the amalga ...

, was asked to organise a national fire service for civil airports. Unlike the local authority fire brigades, airport firemen belonged to the

Transport and General Workers' Union The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland – where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) to differentiate its ...

and not the

Fire Brigades Union The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is a trade union in the United Kingdom for wholetime firefighters (including officers up to chief fire officer / firemaster), retained firefighters and emergency control room staff. History The first recorded inst ...

Ranks

Ranks used by the Aerodrome Fire Service were:Civil Service Arbitration Tribunal: Judgment re claim for increase of salary scales for Fire Service Officers employed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, 15 March 1952 *

Fireman A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

* Leading fireman *Section leader *Aerodrome fire officer II *Aerodrome fire officer I *Divisional fire service officer *Deputy chief fire service officer *Chief fire service officer

Ranks

Footnotes

References

See also