My recollection was that withdrawal of hook ladders accompanied the levelling-down of the physical standards for firefighters. Their use demanded a certain stature and strength, which was demonstrated when training with and deploying them. That they could be used to save people was conveniently ignored in an increasingly political climate.

They are very brave I could never do their job 😮

5:06 so then what happened at grenfell tower ?

I passed out of there in March 1987, John Beecham was my instructor, I had a great 16 weeks there, What a wonderful building too, Such a shame there isnt any training there any more, loved the hook ladder drill. We did t have passing out parades then, I would love to have had my mum come come and watch this, well done all!! Many happy years spent in the LFB

At 2.07 Stan.O Everard. He was one of my gov’nors st C21 Shoreditch.

I joined LFB in 1967. I’m 79 now and can’t believe I did this. It was common place then. Good old days.

It sucks. It literally sucks.

Great video, well done.

Great to see the place again as it was. Started my training in winter 1985. Only 8 of my squad got through. It was disciplined & military. Still remember moments, bloody freezing when those old tunics got wet; & those red plastic gloves! Came back in 2001 as trainer for junior officers. Great memories! Now being sold as upmarket flats, training classrooms all levelled.

For a nerd interested in military customs and traditions, it's interesting to see how the drill is substantially different to the one of the Army. No stomping and the drill commands are given intelligibly. Interesting watch, thank you for posting this

I'm sorry to learn that Southwark TC (and the fire station) are no longer part of the LFB. I attended my selection 'interview' and trained at Southwark in early 1974 and returned to it for all sort of reasons over my time in the service - B.A. drills, TL course, delivering vehicles and equipment etc. Memories of hook ladder drills, pump/hose drills, escape drills, lowering under foot, learning to tie the variety of knots and all the other things that kept us so very busy will always stay with me. We were one of the two squads that were, literally, at the front of the recruiting drive which meant we were expected to learn 16 weeks worth of training in 10 weeks before being sent out to our stations around the LFB where we became known as 'wombles'. At the time I retired there was a skills shortage looming again because those of us who filled that same gap (starting in '74) were leaving, taking experience, driving and specialist qualifications with us and not too many of the younger firefighters wanted to take them on.

We used these ladders at the old London Road Fire Station Manchester when it was Manchester Fire Brigade Training School.in the early 70s .The first time up the tower was pretty scary to say the least .But after a few runs it gave you an added confidence on using them.and actually what a BUZZ you got after scaling to the top.Definitely a confidence builder .

I can hear OSHA screaming through the mountains watching this

60s was wild, They actually said " Lets lug this massive jet engine around and blast the fire " lmao

My late dad (L/Fm "Mac" McKay was in I think NFS from '38 'through until his retirement in 1966. He was reticent about his wartime service. I know at stages he was at Wembley, then don't know. I think he transfered to Essex Brigade after EOH in '45. I know he was at Dagenham, poss Hornchurch, temp E/Ham, but primarily at L22 Ilford. (I was born in '55 so things prior to me blank.) This film has awakened some vague memories of photo's from then but this adds to the overall memory of Dad. Thanks

They were used here in New Zealand too and I still have one in my garage that was retained by my fire officer father.

At 1.50 the very young looking junior fm i think is "Barney" who hailed from the Newmarket area of Suffolk i cannot remember his full name but if it is he i was with him at C30 Holloway where he was posted to after finishing his training and i served from 64 to 70.Tony Sneesby

Been there done that got the T shirt 1964 to 1970 B 37/C30 Holloway Tony Sneesby

As a London Fireman I used the hook ladders on the one man and two man drills at many Fire Stations and on combined drills. One particularly thing always concerned me was the parapet mount especially on the 7th floor. Then standing on the parapet leaning slightly forward and jumping into the training tower. Never got used to that, never did like that. I always considered that unnecessary and dangerous but I did it reluctantly. Those were very happy days in the LFB.

Nice one Dave. As a young boy growing up I lived in The Borough Market Southwark and used to pass The London Fire Brigade Station and Training Centre on the bus never realising that one day I would enter Southwark Training Centre myself in May 1970 to become a London Fireman. The only thing that Dave is unable to demonstrate is the buzz, the excitement, atmosphere, the shouts of water on, water off, knock off and make up, hook ladders to the 5th, slip and pitch the escape to the 5th floor, boots running on the cobblestones, and echoing around the square drill area. Jets of water being directed at the tower with the pump engine going full blast. Wonderful times, wonderful place, wonderful era never to be forgotten if one did one's training there.

Back when they were real men never complaining just got on with job they ruined 5hee brigade by allowing women join that's when it became snowflakes

My late father "Bob" Green was in the LFB from 1947 to 1969, stationed at Euston, Soho, New Cross, Manchester Square and others. This video brings back to many memories, many thanks for posting this (Robin Green)

A number of the Fire engines looked similar to the Green Goddess, but iin Fire Engine Red, instead of Military Green. I remember visiting London in the 80's, and seeing similar looking fire engines to this video, whereas all of the other fire engines I had seen, looked as they do now. Nowadays you are lucky if any of the fire engines are red at all. Even they appear to carry advertising.

I am amazed that as late as 1961 the London Fire Brigade were still using manual bells. It wasn't long before two tone horns came in (mid 1960s) but some fire brigade used US style sirens, e.g Liverpool , Leicester and Cheshire. Probably not nationally adopted because In the 1950s and 60s they may have been confused with air raid sirens although they sounded different

It's crazy that firefighter training has been outsourced and the buildings sold off. Yet another example of sucessive governments (and local authorities) selling off the family silver.

Miss the old days!🚒👨‍🚒

London was still English then

I can't believe they wore wool tunics back then -and continued to do so until the 1980's. And those were the early rebreather types of SCBA gear we see them working on at the start.

Glasgow Fire Service Fire Boat St. Mungo.

Dad loved the hook ladders, apparently he’d fly up & down the tower at D22 Acton (as, presumably, he’d have done in the Middx FB days) whilst others were still going up.

Nice on Pikey, great video 👍🏼

Nice to see the old place. I went through in 92 and my dad back in the 60’s. Thanks for sharing 👍🏻

Wonderful traditions and skills. Sad to see the demise of Fire Services worldwide to the whims of politicians.

That brought back some great memories about the greatest brigade I ever served with. H28 Woodside red watch 1970-72, C21 Shoreditch white watch 1972-73. I then moved to the province's - the worst mistake of my life! The LFB was sorely missed. I Just hope my old buddies are alive and well and remember those good old days. I will never forget!

Super interesting - my grandad Ernest (Dixie) Dean was the storekeeper at Southwark Fire Station - he might be in one of those pictures at 8:04

8P

Action Stations.

Sounds odd, but it's actually true, and there for all to see, the 3 second scene (2.37-2.39) of the Merryweather AEC TL was used in the film Carry On Doctor!!! When Anita Harris gets stranded on the roof of the nurse's home the brigade is called and this actual footage appears!! If I'm not believed - check it out!!!

brilliant footage! love the hook ladder drill!

No two tone sirens but bells. Noticed that no blue lights but orange ones.

Was Kingsland Rd for 13 years, what a good video!!!

The ladder thing is not a thing anymore because the people they resuc have fallen

I like the ladders on wheels. As an american I have never seen those before.

5m 20s so thay new then what should of been done at greenfell towers....oh the price of progress....money!

Wht station

5:05 any research done in 1961 seems to have been ignored or overruled by greedy property developers in the pursuit of profit, how else could the Grenfell disaster been allowed to happen 🤬

Why am I getting vibes about the movie " IF" starring Malcolm McDowell in the late 60's whilst watching this, there's something uncannily similar but I can't quite place my finger on the similarity yet.....

think they would have known about the Grenfell Tower problem beforehand

1:14 looks about right. Keeps them busy between the chilli cook off and washing their private cars with the big hose.

1:40 I'm somewhat fascinated by that index card system. I expect that a trained operator could access the relevant information faster than somebody could today on a computerized database. I had a couple of civil service jobs (Dole office and HMRC) in the 1980s just before the old index card systems were finally computerized. They were relatively quick and quite efficient.