Before the war there was no national fire service, instead there were locally organised fire brigades who were often poorly equipped. These brigades were put into the front line of the war once the bombing began. As well as high explosive bombs, the Luftwaffe attacked with incendiary bombs. They were relatively small and made of manganese. Thousands would be dropped in the average raid. What the enemy was aiming for was to set light to swathes of houses and buildings, turning them into a raging inferno.
London was a prize target for this kind of attack. From 7thSeptember onwards, large areas of the docks and streets of small terrace houses became the target of these attacks. Big warehouses, often full of food, became targets of choice for the Luftwaffe.
Meanwhile, the peace time fire brigades had already been enlarged by the establishment of the Auxiliary Fire Service, the AFS, which played an important part in the recruitment of volunteers to become auxiliary firemen. It was the equivalent of doing national service in the armed services.
The firefighters created a wonderful record for themselves in the work that they did, trying to contain the fires created by the German attacks. By the autumn of 1941 the system of local fire brigades had been reorganised to create a national fire service.