• Located At: Staffordshire Record Office
• Document Reference Number: C/FI; SA/FB
• Level: Collection
• Format: Local Authorities
• Description: Fire brigades began as voluntary or private organisations, some of which were run by the Police or insurance companies. During the 19th century they were gradually taken into the control of local authorities. Few records of these early fire brigades in Staffordshire survive. Staffordshire Record Office has some records, mainly correspondence, for Leek Fire Brigade (1880s-1890s) and minutes of various fire brigade committees in District and Borough Council collections (see below).
  
  In 1941 the Government took control of all local fire brigades and formed the National Fire Service. In Staffordshire the Headquarters was at Pirehill House, between Stafford and Stone, which remained the Headquarters of the County brigade.
  
  Following the Fire Services Act of 1947 local authorities (County Councils and County Borough Councils) took control of fire services. Staffordshire Fire Brigade was created on 1 April 1948 with only the fire brigades of the County Boroughs in the West Midlands, Burton upon Trent and Stoke on Trent remaining separate.
  
  Local government reorganisation on the 1st April 1974 substantially reduced the number of Fire Authorities. The Staffordshire , Burton and Stoke brigades merged to form Staffordshire Fire Brigade. The Walsall, Wolverhampton and West Bromwich brigades became part of the West Midlands. On 1 January 1986 the County fire brigade became Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service.
  
  In 1997 Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Fire Authority was created as a separate body with corporate responsibility for Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Fire Service. The Service became the Fire and Rescue Service with the implementation of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004.
  
  Related records in County Council collection
  Minutes of Staffordshire County Council's Fire Brigade Committee, 1947-1965 (CC/B/62)
  Minutes of Fire and Public Protection Committee, later Fire and Emergency Planning Committee, 1973-1997 (CC/B/139)
  Photographs (C/C/PR/5/2/3 and C/P/65/6/1/23/69-73; C/P/65/6/1/50/424-3; C/P/65/6/1/60/4-5; and C/P/65/1/6/73/12)
  See also records of civil defence and emergency planning (1940s) C/EP
• Category:Fire services
• Access Conditions: Please give a minimum of two working days' advance notice for production
• Reproduction Conditions: Any questions concerning the publication of images of documents in this collection should be directed to the County Archivist, Staffordshire Record Office, Eastgate Street, Stafford ST16 2 LZ.
• Accession Number: SA/FB
• Ref No: AJ03

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