Fire Station

In 1949, the little village of Kingston was settling down after the war. Bread, Jam & clothing were off the ration book and a couple of events changed the ways of this village. The first event was the introduction of a mains water supply, the second was the burning down of a parish councillor’s shed! Mr Bill Royle felt he should be able to do something, in the 20 minutes it took for the closest fire appliance to arrive. He approached the chief fire officer, through the parish council with his request to use the fire hydrants to tackle any out break in Kingston. The Chief sent a reply stating that untrained people should not be squirting water on fires as they may cause more damage. this instantly prompted the reply WELL YOU BETTER TRAIN US THEN! This impressed the chief who agreed to equip and train the fire fighters.

The men started off with a hand cart containing a hand operated pump and a few lengths of hose. Some progress has been made over the years with the provision of better training and equipment, yet because we have trouble providing a daytime crew we remain voluntary. The current crew of4 members, are fully trained by Devon And Somerset Fire And Rescue service and have the use of a Iveco Rapid Intervention Vehicle.

 

RIV fire engine

Austin fire engine
Dick & Glad Lugger Austin ATV 1972
Fire Station
Roy Yeomans photo of the fire station before it was altered in 1973
Fire crew photo
Dick Lugger, Viv Freeman, Gerald Yeoman, Ivor Willcocks, Donald Lugger, Brian Gallimore
Dennis F8 Fire engine
Dennis F8 OUO73 1976
Fire Crew late 70's
Roger Ryall, Roland Lugger, Sebastian Bellini, John Edwards, Ivor Willcocks, Viv Freeman, Don Lugger

     

 

Fire Crew 1986
Roger Ryall, Don Lugger, Viv Freeman, Jeremy Willcocks, Alan Edyveane

 

Fire Crew 1993
Merv Freeman. Paul Iredale, David Ebsworth, Darren O’Rourke, Nick Frood, Jeremy Willcocks, Walford Bruen

Walford Bruen, Darren O’Rourke, Paul Iredale, Nick Frood, Simon Ebsworth, David Ebsworth, Bill Mears, Merv Freeman
Merv Freeman, Paul White, Gary Taylor, Darren Neil, Andy Smith, Gordon Case, Michael Jarvis
Gordon Case, Paul White, Michael Jarvis, Darren Neil, Merv Freeman, Andy Smith, Sophie Banham, Andrew Rintoul

Mercedes fire engine Mercedes fire engine off roading

RIV fire engine
Iveco RIV 2020