Fire Guards Training at Bedford Square

From the collection of

London’s Screen Archives
London’s Screen Archives is a network of over 50 organisations with a collective vision – to preserve and share London’s history on film. The network is managed by Film London and we work with our partners to digitise, preserve, and offer access to their moving image collections.

Fire Guards Training at Bedford Square


Fire Guards were volunteers recruited to operate in the vicinity of their own home and street and were formed into small teams of 3 to 5 persons and trained to tackle small fires caused by incendiary bombs or to extinguish the incendiary bomb itself using water supplied by a stirrup pump. Unlike an official goverment film, this amateur film lets us see the men joking about before getting on with the training - extinguishing smoke bombs and controlled fires.


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