History of The Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Melbourne

Metropolitan Fire Brigade: The History 1845 to 2004

1845- The first known fire brigade commenced operation in Melbourne during 1845. It was known as the Melbourne Fire Prevention Society and consisted of only volunteers. These were known as ‘bucket brigades’ as their only fire fighting tool was, literally, buckets.

1845 to 1890- As Melbourne spread, so to did the fire risk. A number of other volunteer brigades were formed, bearing th names of insurance companies, municipalities or other institutions, such as the Carlton and United Breweries Brigade, Fitzroy Temperance etc. An intense rivalry between brigades existed, and more often than not, fire brigades would fight over who was to actually fight the fire, rather than actually putting the fire out, and by the late 1880s this had led to several small fires turning into major ones because of the brigade in-fighting. More often than not, police were called to the scene of fires to decide who’s fire it was to fight. Many buildings though had plaques attached to them, which stated which insurance company the building was insured with. Other brigades would receive the alarm of fire, attend and see that it was not their building and then do their best to hinder the operation. In 1899 six fire fighters would lose their lives and the State Government decided it was time to unify all the Brigades to stop the in-fighting.

1890-The Melbourne Fire Brigade (later to become Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Melbourne and now Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services), was established in December 1889 by the 1890 Fire Brigades Act. The first meeting of the MFB Board was held on March 6, 1891. On April 30, 1891, the existing 56 volunteer Fire Brigades operating in Melbourne were disbanded. Fire fighters who wished to join the new Melbourne Fire Brigade were given the option to do so.

May 1, 1891- Melbourne Fire Brigade became the main Fire Brigade in Melbourne. The first Annual Report of the gave the strength of the Brigade in 1891 as 59 permanent fire fighters, 229 auxiliary fire fighters, 4 steam fire engines, 25 horse drawn hose carts and 58 hose reels. There were only 33 horses and 48 stations in 1891, and the Brigade attended 816 calls and 485 fires, of which 188 fires were classified as "serious".

Early 1900s- Motor Carriage workshops established. (The MFB was the first Fire Service in the world to say goodbye to horses, in the early 1920s).

1915-Tailoring department established

1918-Printing department established

1945-Most Motor Carriages now equipped with 2-way AM-mode radio

1950-The some paid, some volunteer principle of the MFB was disbanded, and all fire fighters became government employees. Continuos duty cycle disbanded due to Industrial Court ruling 40hr/5 day week.

1950s-The Government decides to re-organize rural fire fighting and places all the ad-hoc rural brigades under the Country Fire Authority Act and incorporates them into the Country Fire Brigades Board. (For more on the CFA/CFBB see the CFA section)

1966-Breathing apparatus introduced to MFB

1969-MFBs first Snorkel arrives. Abbotsford Training College opened, and training moved from Eastern Hill (Stn #1)

1971-Dispatch Centre opens at Eastern Hill for all MFB stations

July 1983- Fire Investigation Unit formed.

October 1983-Computer Aided Dispatch from Eastern Hill begins

January 1987- Fire fighter’s Superannuation scheme introduced

1988-The Laverton site is bought for future training ground

September 1988- The first women fire fighters in the MFB begin duty

1997-Dispatch is taken over by private company, Intergraph Public Safety, and is moved to Tally-Ho Tech Park, Lakeside Dve, East Burwood.

1999-The MFB changes it’s name to Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services, reflecting it’s new role as a 1^st responder organization.

2002-Dispatch is taken back over at same location by Government owned company, Emergency Communications Victoria

2003-The MFESB decides to change it’s trading name back to the MFB, and the orginal logo is changed back to Metro Fire Brigade and a new MFB Corporate logo is released.

2004-The MFB begin the building of a new training complex at the corner of Barkly St, Burnley, the site of the MFB’s new ‘Centre Of Excellence’ Training Centre, the Abbotsford College closing shortly... or has it already?

Most Portions ©Sally Wilde. This short history of the Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade has been taken from "Life Under The Bells" by Sally Wilde ( ISBN 0 582 87023 2 ) published by Longman Cheshire, 1991 with additions by Ashley Geelan and the Eltham CFA’s Historical Committee.

No part of this page may be transmitted or re-produced in whole or part without permission from the author(s).

With Thanks To Fire Fighter Paul Hoyle (Vol), Geoff Riley (x Captian-now CFA Staff Firey), Stephen Riley (1^st Lieutenant) Gary Cronin (MFB 7 S.S.O. & Eltham CFA vol), Don Glasgow and all members, past and present of the Eltham Urban Fire Brigade, CFA.

This Page Last Updated: January 7, 2004

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A complete copy of Eltham CFA’s history and a transcript of interviews with Life Members, which I conducted in 1995/6/7 is available upon request. A History of Eltham CFA, 909 News (Brigade newsletter) were my first “real” publications, along with the Fire Brigade Frequencies Of Australia Brochure. Space permitting I may add these original publications to the site at a later date. These projects were done for free by my company VicNews Pty Ltd, which started life as a Year 10 school newspaper which ended up a registered publication!!! VicNews is not published today-apart from my occasional use of the name in scanner news bulletins, though it could be revived as a newspaper or scanner publication in the future.