Eltham Fire Station was built in 1904 to cover part of the rapidly expanding urban area of South East London. It is one of London Fire Brigade’s oldest operational sites, alongside fire stations New Cross, Deptford and Hendon.
Eltham Fire Station in around 1910
The station was officially opened on 8 December 1904 by Edward Smith, chairman of the Fire Brigade Committee of the London County Council. The Mayor of Woolwich, the Reverent L Jenkins Jones, and members of the Woolwich Borough Council also attended the event.
On the ground floor the walls of the appliance bay were lined with white glazed bricks and the floor paved with ironstone tiles. At the rear of the building was horse stabling.
The station also had accommodation for the firefighters and their families. The station officer had quarters on the ground floor. The first and second floors each had two three-room and one two-room sets of quarters, with one shared bathroom per floor.
It initially was described as a ‘sub fire station’ as it only housed one horse-drawn vehicle, a fire escape ladder. There was also a manual pump and a hose cart. This was crewed by a station officer, five firefighters, and a coachman who cared for a pair of horses.
Eltham Fire Station crews on motorised vehicles, after 1920
During the Second World War the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) formed nationally in 1938. This was part of the Civil Defence Service designed to increase firefighting resources in wartime. Eltham was supported by AFS substations. They included
In 1941 all fire brigades in the United Kingdom were amalgamated to form the National Fire Service (NFS). Eltham Fire Station became Station G2Z.
Aftermath of an air raid on 18 November 1944. Rescue workers extract a woman from the rubble of her ruined home
The Eltham area received several direct hits from bombs during the air raids on London. On the 18 November 1944 many homes on Sherard Road were damaged or destroyed. NFS personnel and rescuers worked together to pull survivors from the rubble, several people were sadly killed in the attack.
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 in the 1960s
When the Greater London Council was formed in 1965 and the borders of London were expanded, Eltham was station E30, and part of Southern Command. It housed a pump fire escape engine and a pump fire engine.
The station building is noted on the Royal Borough of Greenwich’s Local Heritage List as of ‘local heritage significance’.
Charity Open day at Eltham Fire Station in 1974, inviting the local community into the station
Eltham Fire Station in 2009
Eltham Fire Station responds to a variety of incidents including fires, road traffic collisions and flooding as well as extensive community-based fire safety work. It is also responsible for protecting the historically significant Eltham Palace, managed by English Heritage.
The building houses a pump fire engine that covers most routine fire and rescue needs, and is crewed by a sub officer, a leading firefighter and five firefighters.