working in partnership to make Dorset safer
To translate this webpage you are viewing, just click the button.
Dorset Fire Brigade
 |
Prior to the nationalisation of the Fire Service in 1941, the firefighting in Dorset was undertaken by mainly volunteer brigades. The larger towns and villages supported firefighting (such as; Wimborne, Blandford, Dorchester and so on) supported firefighting in Dorset.
|
|
After the war was over in 1945 the handing back of control of fire brigades to local authorities began with the introduction of the Fire Service Act of 1947. This legislation gave control and the responsibility of the provision of fire brigades to the County Councils and Councils of larger cities. From its inception in 1948 to 1974 consisted of 18 part-time fire stations and three wholetime. When the local government was reorganised in 1974 the Borough of Bournemouth Fire Brigade with four wholetime stations and the Borough of Christchurch with one part-time station (formerly part of Hampshire Fire Brigade) merging to became part of the new county of Dorset, therefore merging into Dorset Fire and Rescue Service (DFRS).
|
 Click to view large picture |
 |
|
|
The design of the Fire Authority's Coat of Arms has been based on the particular nature of the Service and the relationship between the Authority and its constituent authorities. The "fire" element of DFRFS' is shown through heraldic devices. The Shield shows two gold salamanders facing each other on a red background, separated by a stream of blue water. The mythical salamander (rather than the zoological variety) is, according to the Oxford Dictionary a "lizard-like animal supposed to live in fire" or the "elemental spirit of fire". Some think salamanders (at least the mythical variety) are resistant to fire. This steam of water represents either water (as used in firefighting) or sea (as in the coastal elements of Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole). The Crest appears above the Shield. It repeats the salamander theme except, in this case, the salamander is red and is sitting on a crown of red and gold fleur-ed-lis. The Supporters ("supporting" the Shield) are a rampant red Lion:
The Lion is taken from Dorset's armorial bearings and the Sea Lion is a combination of Bournemouth's Lion (the head) and Poole's Dolphin (the tail). As a sea mammal, the Sea Lion also represents that marine nature of the two boroughs. The Supporters are s seen as supporting the fire elements in the Shield as representing to constituent authorities which support the Fire Service. The Supporters are both carrying long-handled fire axes which emphasises the rescue element of the Service and makes them unique to Dorset Fire Authority. The Latin motto "Commune Protegens" means "Protecting the Community". |