Sheldon Fire Station

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Sheldon Fire Station was opened on the 11th September 1956 by The Lord Mayor of Birmingham Alderman E .W.APPS. It was the first station to be built in Birmingham after the Second World War to provide cover for the eastern expansion of the city. It was designed to resist an Atomic blast, a considered possibility in those uncertain post war years.

The above picture was taken on our station's first day.

Situated on the junction of the Meadway and Garretts Green Lane it replaced the old fire station in Wash Lane, Stechford which had accommodation for a single fire engine.

This is Red Watch in 1957.

The new station had five engine bays which housed two fire engines, a Turntable Ladder and an ambulance providing cover for approximately 7.5 square miles. Whilst the station has remained much the same the area in which it is located has changed beyond recognition. All the land to the North and East has been developed as a residential area and is now bounded by the M6 Motorway which post dates the station by over 10 years.

In the early days the station averaged less than 300 calls a year, mostly of a minor nature and was jokingly referred to as a rest home for firefighters. Today Sheldon has two fire engines and attends around 4,000 incidents a year. We also now have an Ambulance again which arrived on April 1st 2001.

One can only imagine how many calls Sheldon's firefighters have attended since it opened 44 years ago. How many do you think it is ? Email us and we will tell you if you're right.

Birth of Sheldon Fire Station

We have received the following information via email from a Mr Clive Charman, which fills in some of the history from the very beginning of our Station.

Having now explored Almost all your first class web site I would like to give you a bit of history pre Sheldon And it's first three months as an operational station.

I joined the brigade in 1948 after returning from war service, about 80% of recruits were ex servicemen, The NFS {National fire Service) still existed, but within a couple of months the brigades were returned to the local authorities, and we reclaimed the name of Birmingham Fire Brigade. The Chief Officer was Mr. Coleman. I did my training at Sutton Coldfield A large training camp was situated in the park, and trained recruits from all over the Midlands.

The CO of the school was DO "Arnie" Fields who became the much respected DO at A1 Central.

After training I was posted to Bordesly Green which was the HQ for E division. A three appliance station, there was an old wartime Bedford pump ladders, and a pre war Dennis pump escape. Third bay was used for an operational van, another wartime relic, an Austin. To add to the antiquity of the station which started life as a steamer and fifty foot wheeled escape station, both horse drawn. The original pulleys which held the harnesses ready for quick release were still in the engine house ceiling. The floor instead of the usual smooth surface was tiled with "V" ridges to give the horses a grip when galloping out. This made the Friday morning scrub a difficult task. A couple of the more interesting characters were Buck Ryan, who became the landlord of the Custard House in Blake Lane. And Ray Kilburn who eventually became the president of the FBU. The first post-war station officer was Cyril Lilley, followed by Ted George, and Ed Newman.

After about six months we received the stations own pump ladders a 1936 Leyland Tiger Cub open boat, which could make driving difficult in rain and snow. Pump 38, all stations were known by their pump number! the photo I sent you off the 6 man pump drill team has pump 38 as a background. Although it had only done about 5000 miles during it’s life, the engine was well worn because of the enormous amount of pumping from canals it had done during the Blitz. All canal bridges had wooden doors inserted into them to enable the suction hoses to be dropped through. A regular Sunday morning task was for someone to cycle round them all checking the locks, another cycling task was to go round all the Carter Micro street alarms, each morning and test them. One of the more disliked tasks was watchroom duty, especially the nights, fire calls came in either from street alarms, telephone or pulling the large brass fire bell on the front of the station. On receiving a call the dutyman put the "Bells Down" yes that was the standard term, which operated bells in various parts of the station and also in the flats and houses, occupied by Officers and men. My wife eventually got used to me leaping out of bed in the middle of the night!

Somewhere around 1950 the National Health Service was formed, Prior to this the ambulance services were largely provided by a private community service "The Saturday Penny Hospital fund" I think that is self explanatory. It was decided to transfer the section that responded to accidents and emergencies, to the Fire brigade, and an ambulance was stationed at each Divisional HQ, to be manned by Firemen, the powers that be thought that as each Fireman had to do compulsory training in St Johns first aid, they would be ideal for the job, we were given no special equipment, not even a uniform more suited to the task. we turned out wearing our Fire tunics!! my first ambulance job was to a young girl who had given birth on a park bench in Small Heath Park!! I dont know what she thought when two "hairy arsed firemen" turned up to help her!!

The name of the brigade was changed to Birmingham Fire And Ambulance Service. E division had 3 stations attached, E2 at Ward End park, they occupied the old Manor house in the park and had two appliances housed in temporary engine bays. E3 at Wash Lane Hay Mills, a single appliance bay with station personnel housed in two council houses adjacent./ and E4 at Alexandra Rd Acocks Green, another single appliance bay with the crew house in adjacent houses.

In 1951 I moved from a flat on the station to Horrell Rd Sheldon, where the brigade took over 10 new houses to house personnel for a new station being planned in the district.

The duty system up to the end of 1956 was a 24 hour shift, the two watches changing over at 9AM each day, we had a day off once every four weeks. Two weeks annual summer leave, and one week winter leave. Although the system sounds a bit draconian, most of us enjoyed the companionship it formed. Your watch was almost like one’s second family, you spent almost half your life with them, We cooked our own meals, worked keeping our quarters, bedrooms and appliances clean between 9AM and 4PM, after that we had a comfortable lounge and bar, with a billiard table. At 11 PM we all retired to the kitchen for a "cuppa" before going to bed. This involved a routine of pulling one’s slacks and snickers over your fire boots, positioning them at the side of the bed, so that when the bells went down you jumped out of bed into your fire boots, pulling the rest of the gear up as we scrambled for the pole.

Towards the end of 1956 Sheldon station was opened, and the DO took a poll as to who wanted to go there, I opted to stay at Bordesly Green. Which was in the centre of a large industrial area, and jobs (Fires) were plentiful, I did not fancy the quiet life of a rest home!! E2 at Ward End park was closed down, (Not as you say in your history Wash Lane) and most of its crew went to Sheldon , at that time the duty system was changed to a 60 hour week, and a third (White) watch was formed. One of it’s interesting features was that it had a TL, something we had never had on the division, so there were a number of crash courses to train operators.

The initial officers at Sheldon was DO J, Yapp. Who replaced Sam Todd as third officer, but he was never a big enough man to fill Sam’s boots!! And SO C, Lilley who eventually became the DO at C Division Albion Street

In 1957 I obtained a position as an ADO with an Australian Brigade, with whom I still have a close attachment. I kept up a correspondence with some of my BFAS compatriots, but unfortunately most of them have now sent their last "Stop Message"

My eldest daughter who was born in the flat at Bordesly Green visited there in 1998 and I am pleased to see that it has been preserved as a heritage building, she took some excellent photo’s of it which now occupy a pride of place above this computer in my Den.

If any one would like to know more of the early pre-war history of the brigade, they can email me here.

The West Midlands Fire Service was awarded The Charter Mark in 1997.

Click here to see the Car wash in Aid of the American Firefighters

Click here to see The First Lady of the Floor Polisher - 20 years of Service Award.