In 1870, the first permanent fire station to serve Paddington was opened on Hermitage Street, Paddington Green. It replaced a temporary station that had opened in 1866, the first year that London had a public fire brigade. It housed one horse drawn steam fire engine, a manual escape van, a hose cart and seven firefighters.
As the amount of fires in the area increased, the Fire Brigade Committee decided that the existing station was inadequate. It made a compulsory purchase of multiple properties on Edgware Road to build a new station. The imposing, Gothic building opened on 20 November 1900 with a huge crowd in attendance. It could house almost double the number of firefighters, stable two pairs of horses and was one of the first fire stations to have electricity. In 1906, the Fire Brigade Committee changed the name of the station to Edgware Road.
In 1969 Edgware Road and Kilburn Fire Station were replaced with a new station on Harrow Road. This new station became the Headquarters for A Division. The new station was considered state of the art at the time. It was designed with an impressive five bays and substantial training facilities.
It was also the Northern Command Breathing Apparatus Training School. This meant it was equipped with a ‘rat race’ obstacle course in the basement and a humidity room with heat and damp controls to simulate fire conditions.