We’re all used to fire and rescue services. Most places in the world are protected by them, and in most places they look quite similar, in terms of the appearance of their equipment, the style of their uniforms, and what we can make out of their operational procedures. What we can’t see by looking at them, is where all that came from. What’s the history behind those shared procedures and assumptions? When did they develop and how did they proliferate? Well, it turns out that the basis of a modern professional fire service was established in the aftermath of the Great Fire of Edinburgh in 1824, by James Braidwood, who went on to move south and establish the London Fire Brigade. The Museum of Scottish Fire Heritage, then, tells the story, not only of the fire services that merged to become the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in 2013, but of the birth of fire brigades as they are found all over the world.
It’s not actually as huge or comprehensive as that suggests, of course. This is a relatively small museum, attached to a station off Leith Walk in Edinburgh, containing five appliances (fire engines) and a selection of PPE and other equipment. It’s designed as outreach for Scottish Fire, and it’s a very family-friendly museum, with a lot of well designed and robust interactive exhibits, such as mini-sized fire uniforms for kids to try on. But its sequence of text panels present an informative narrative, well integrated with the objects on display, offering a coherent handle on the development of procedures and equipment. It also pays tribute to the many brave firefighters who have lost their lives over the years, frequently by exploring the technical developments that have been spurred by those deaths. The museum is close to the city centre, easy to reach on foot by most visitors to Edinburgh. I found it fascinating and unexpectedly moving.
Leave a Reply