All sides of the fire scene in the United Kingdom are covered in Firefighting in Action, from fire fighting appliances to organisation and history.
The earlier part of the book gives an overview of the fire services from the earliest times. With professional insight, the author then describes and analyses in detail all aspects of the contemporary fire scene, including administration, rank structure, wholetime and ‘retainer’ members and the unusual role of the now-disbanded salvage corps.
The core of the book is a pictorial review of the principal types of fire appliances. This equipment includes water tenders/ladders, aerial appliances, specialist machines (such as foam tenders or emergency tenders), small pumping appliances and airport fire vehicles. The photographs, all previously unpublished, are heavily captioned. The accompanying text describes each type and explains trends in fire appliance design.
Finally, the author takes two brigades, one urban one semi-rural to show firemen in operation. He outlines their vehicles, old and new, manning levels, training, number of calls, finances and, of course, presents them in action in words and pictures.
In fact, throughout Firefighting in Action it is the photographs of men and vehicles out in action at fires and incidents, which most conjure up this exciting but dangerous job.
John Creighton is the editor of Fire World and the author of Fire Engines of Europe and Fire Engines of the United Kingdom as well as numerous other books on transport, including British Buses Since 1945 published by Blandford.