FIRE SERVICE RELATED
New
Romney
fire station open
day success
With free entry the event ran from
11am to 3pm with huge crowds
attending.
Joining in the anniversary
celebrations were distinguished
guests, the Admiral of the Fleet the
Lord Boyce KG GCB OBE DL, Lord
Warden and Admiral of the Cinque
Ports and Constable of Dover
Castle, and the Right Worshipful
Mayor of New Romney, Councillor
Mrs Patricia Rolfe.
The station was opened on
Wednesday 9 May 1956 by County
Alderman Sir Denys Stokes CB OBE
and it was the fourth new retained
(now called on-call) fire station to
be provided by the County Council
since it became the Fire Authority
10
New Romney fire station
opened its doors to the
public on Saturday 7 May
to help mark the 60th
anniversary of the station.
in 1948. The Sub Officer at the time
was Jack Polden.
The fire station has always been
a retained (now on-call) station,
crewed by locals all having to
live within a mile of the station to
achieve an attendance time of
five minutes. Back then, the crews
were alerted to the station by an
old World War Two air raid siren at
the top of the drill tower, and at
night time they had a bell in the
house that rang. In 1977, pocket
alerters were issued to each
firefighter. This system is still used
today.
Visitors were able to view the
equipment the fire crew uses
to respond to a wide range of
emergencies. As well as attending
a variety of fire incidents, the fire
appliance has combination cutting
gear on board which allows the
crews to attend road traffic collisions,
as well as water rescue dry suits,
which have been used to rescue
people from cars in ditches on the
Marsh.
The community safety team
provided a demonstration showing
the dangers of cooking with oil and
crews gave some essential fire and
road safety advice.
Firefighter’s Charity had a fundraising
stand and a raffle in aid of the charity
with a huge range of prizes donated
from the local community and
businesses in the area was held.