This black and white film from the 1940s was produced for the National Fire Service by the Ministry of Information in Great Britain. The National Fire Service was formed in 1941 and comprised of men and women. Both wear NFS uniforms. For civil defense purposes, the country is divided into regions and further into divisions and subdivisions, which then control stations. This breakdown is shown on a map and diagramed (:45-3:40). The steps are now shown. The fire call comes in and the fire station bell rung. The firemen pour in, get the location, and dash out to the fire truck (3:41-4:39). The fire woman reports the fire to the control about the subdivision. The two fire women work together: one handles all messages and keeps the occurrence book updated (writing with a fountain pen) and the other is the mobilizing officer sending out trucks and keeping the board up to date. This involves writing the information in with chalk and hanging tags on pegs that represent each appliance (fire truck) (4:40-5:23). A raging fire is shown, with water being sprayed on it (5:25-5:33). Another fire is reported and the fire bell rung (5:34-6:15). The sub-division is now shown. It also has a board that tracks the fires and equipment. As the needs are called in, the mobilizing board is adjusted, and the orders written out and transmitted (6:16-8:24). Fire trucks are shown leaving the station 8:25-8:38). Another large building is shown on fire (8:39-8:56). A secondary control keeps an identical board as the primary control in case it should go out of service (8:57-10:30). At the division, the boards summarize each subdivision and totals for the division (10:31-11:32). A serious fire is shown in progress (11:33-11:48). The mobilizing officers review all input brought in and there is a board kept up to date here as well. (11:49-13:40). At the regional level, a large map is on the wall and a board tracks all movements. Reinforcement trucks are ordered from other divisions and shown driving and arriving at the reinforcement base and on to the fires (13:41-16:28). The Fire Forced Mobilizing Board tracks the number of fire and available pumps in each division. Incoming and outgoing messages are check by the message supervisor (16:29-18:00). Water sprays high in the air at a building on fire (18:01-18:10). The mobilizing board is updated again as more pumps are needed for multiple fires and the steps repeated (18:11-20:55). The Fire Control Room has no mobilizing board, but rather room tall maps on the wall with tallies on it that are moved around as the situations change (20:56-21:42). More blazing buildings are shown (22:10-22:30).

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com