Eltham Fire Station was built in 1904 to cover part of the rapidly expanding urban area of South East London. It originally housed a horse drawn escape van, a horse drawn manual pump and a hand drawn hose cart. The station also had accommodation for the firefighters and their families, and four horses.
During the Second World War the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) formed nationally in 1938. This was part of the Civil Defence Service, and designed to increase firefighting resources in wartime. Eltham was supported by six Auxiliary Fire Service substations, attached to the Fire Station. They included
In 1941 all fire brigades in the United Kingdom were amalgamated to form the National Fire Service (NFS).
The National Fire Service was disbanded in 1948 and Eltham Fire Station returned to local authority control as part of London Fire Brigade.
Eltham Fire Station houses a pump fire engine and is crewed by a Sub Officer, a Leading Firefighter and five Firefighters. The station responds to a variety of incidents including fires, lift releases and road traffic collisions.