Meet Your Local Firefighters At Wimbledon Open Day

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Activities include chance to abseil from the fire station's training tower

Wimbledon fire station will be throwing open its doors on July 3 to host a free firefighting style birthday party marking 150 years of London Fire Brigade.

Everyone is invited to come along between 10.30am-4pm to meet the firefighters and enjoy a family day out.

The Wimbledon open day is one of 65 special open days across London to celebrate the Brigade’s 150th anniversary.

Children can meet real firefighters, as well as life-sized PLAYMOBIL ones, plus enjoy toys and activities.

Limited-edition London Fire Brigade versions of  the PLAYMOBIL fire brigade sets have also been created for children to learn through play at home. Ten per cent of proceeds will be donated to the Brigade’s charities of choice.

Visitors will be treated to a series of drills by Red Watch firefighters, who will be showing off  the wide range of skills and equipment they use to tackle different incidents. This will include simulating cutting casualties free from a road traffic collision and demonstrating their line rescue techniques.

For those with a sense of adventure there will be the opportunity to abseil from the fire station’s training tower.

Staff from London Fire Brigade’s 999 control team will also be on hand to explain how they deal with emergency calls and crews from London Ambulance Service will be giving a CPR demonstration.

Throughout the day, firefighters will be available to answer questions about life on a fire station and to pass on useful fire safety advice and information.

There will be plenty of activities to keep children and adults entertained, including the opportunity to see our fire engines and rescue equipment up close.

Goody bags will be available for children and refreshments will be provided throughout the day with a barbecue, BBQ, Mexican food and coffee all available.

• The first fire station to be built in Wimbledon was in 1904, on Queen’s Road. The station was operational throughout the bombing raids on London during the First World War, extinguishing fires created by the bombs dropped from German zeppelins.     
• During the Second World War Wimbledon Fire Station became a Divisional Headquarters for the National Fire Service, with seven sub-stations under it’s command. These sub-stations included the All England Tennis Club, the location which hosts the famous Wimbledon Tennis Championships. 
• Wimbledon Common was also used as a site for testing new technology and equipment that would be used to combat the blitz. Hoses, pumps and new vehicles, capable of holding and pumping much higher volumes of water than their previous peace-time equivalents were all put through their paces. These Wimbledon tests gave the newly formed Auxiliary and National Fire Services they needed to defeat the infernos created by the Luftwaffe bombing raids.
•  Following the disbandment of the national Fire Service in 1948, Wimbledon Fire Station became part of the Surrey Fire Brigade. It became part of the London Fire Brigade in 1965, with the formation of the Greater London Council.
• In 1988 a new fire station was built in Wimbledon, on Kingston Road. Today, the station is crewed by one Watch Manager, three Crew Managers and 13 Firefighters, who attend an average of 748 incidents a year.

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June 24, 2016