"Northern Ireland Fire Authority"

A brief history
By

_______________________Bill Broadhurst and Harry Welsh

The Northern Ireland Fire Authority was formed in 1950 from an amalgamation of
The Northern fire authority with its headquarters in Ballymena.
The Western fire authority with its headquarters in Londonderry.
And
The Southern fire authority with its headquarters in Portadown.
These authorities had been formed in 1947 after the N.F.S. (N.I) had been stood down.

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Fire Force Commander of the newly formed Northern Ireland Fire Authority
was George Murphy who was, until 1950,
The Fire Services Inspector for the Ministry of Home Affairs.

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As the Fire Authority had also undertaken the task of recruiting and training the newly formed Auxiliary Fire Service arm of the Civil Defence, their premises which they had originally occupied as their headquarters at "Arberdour" Clonevin Park in Lisburn now proved to be too small for administration and training purposes. They purchased more extensive premises from the Lisburn Borough Council at 43 Castle Street Lisburn.

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An order for thirty F8 Dennis fire engines was placed by the Fire Authority with Dennis Brothers of Gilford in Surrey. Because their specifications of 6 feet 6 inches wide, and 18 feet 10 inches long were suitable to the narrow country roads in Northern Ireland, they were given the additional designation of "Ulster" appliances. They were however sufficiently powerful and large enough to carry a 200 gallon water tank, a 35 foot extension ladder, a portable pump and a full compliment of hose. Powered by a Rolls Royce B60, six-cylinder petrol engine the first of the new fleet was delivered on the 12th May 1952. They were to become the mainstay of firefighting operations in Northern Ireland for the next 25 years.

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In 1951 a central control room was established, which monitored appliance availability and incidents throughout Northern Ireland. In addition to Fire Force Headquarters were three divisional headquarters situated at Londonderry, Portadown and Ballymena. Each divisional headquarters had a staff of wholetime officers who managed the stations within their divisions. There was a small control room at each divisional headquarters that mobilised appliances to fires, and informed the central control room at Lisburn of each incident.
During the year ended 31st March 1951 the Northern Ireland Fire Authority dealt with 960 incidents of all types, this figure increased to 1,236 during 1951/52.

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To augment its civil defence fleet, twenty new emergency pumps (E.P.) for the Auxiliary Fire Service under the command of the N.I.F.A arrived in Northern Ireland on 12th June 1954. Mr James Finlay, Chairman of the Authority formally received them from Mr Adrian Robinson Permanent Secretary to the Ministry.
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In 1968, the Labour Government under its leader Harold Wilson, decided that a nuclear war would not permit an organisation such as the A.F.S to deal with fires as effectively as those started by conventional weapons. The Auxiliary Fire and Rescue Service throughout the United Kingdom was therefore stood down.

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Fire Force Control provided Appliance and Officer cover for 1 Wholetime fire station in Londonderry and 42 Retained stations throughout Northern Ireland.
Seen here in 1969, a PABX telephone switchboard to communicate with police stations who would operate the turnout sirens, also the Voice Frequency system which could directly operate the turnout sirens in those towns without permanent police stations.

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A radio transmitter for the Authority was erected on Slieve Croob (Source of the river Lagan) in 1969 and first radio messages were sent during a visit to the headquarters by Lord Grey the Governor for N.Ireland.
In the next few years with the building and siting of more transmitters all N.I.F.A fire vehicles would be supplied with permanent radio communication to the Control room.

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On the night of 21st November 1971, the Northern Ireland Fire Authority fire station in the City of Londonderry suffered a tragic loss of personnel.
A fire occurred at the Melville Hotel which resulted in the deaths of Leading Fireman Leonard McCartney and Fireman Alexander Wylie.

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When George Murphy retired in 1972, the Authority appointed George Morrison as Fire Force Commander.
He held this office until the Northern Ireland Fire Authority amalgamated with the Belfast Fire Brigade in 1973.

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The newly formed brigade, now entitled, "Fire Authority for Northern Ireland" appointed George Morrison as The Chief Fire Officer.

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