Before the outbreak of the Second World War, the British government set up a system of Air Raid Precautions in the anticipation of a European war coming to its doorstep.
If an enemy were to drop bombs upon its cities, starting fires that would spread and cause further chaos, an Auxiliary Fire Service would be needed to supplement the existing fire service provision.
One of those volunteer fireman was Frank Hurd, a 24 year old from Islington, London.
He shared his experiences of the first raid on London on 7th September 1940. He was stationed at Euston Road fire station where all the waiting that night was getting him and his mates on edge.
We were getting a bit fed up with this sort of thing and I think a few of us (I know I did) half-hoped for 'something to happen' & then felt ashamed for letting the monotony 'get us down'.
Not long into the night however, the team would be sent over to East Ham, quite the journey. The first signs of the Blitz came upon them.
Houses were demolished, roads torn up and a surface shelter had been wrecked. Ambulances and rescue squads were at work at we passed. Fires of varying sizes were visible all round.
After being ordered to Beckton Gas Works, Hurd experienced his first bomb:
A weird whistling sound and I ducked beside the pump with two more of the crew…then a vivid flash of flame, a column of earth and debris flying into the air, and the ground heaved. I was thrown violently against the side of the appliance.
While the gas works burned, Hurd was forced to wait while others went to fetch water. Looking around he marvelled at the sights:
What a sight. About a mile away to our right was the river front. The whole horizon on that side was a sheet of flame. The docks were afire! On all other sides it was much the same. Fires everywhere. The sky was a vivid orange glow. And all the time the whole area was being mercilessly bombed. The road shuddered with the explosions. A-A [anti-aircraft] shells were bursting overhead. A Royal Navy destroyer berthed in one of the docks was firing her A-A equipment, as were other ships. The shrapnel literally rained down. It was now about midnight and still this incessant racket kept on.
Despite the noise and danger of the raid, Hurd found himself surprised by how quickly he became accustomed to it:
It surprised me how quickly we got used to sensing whether a bomb was coming our way or not. At first we all lay flat every time we heard anything but after an hour or so we only dived for it if one came particularly close.
Then, in the middle of the night:
At about 3:30 a.m. a canteen van arrived and served us out tea and sandwiches. It was the first bite any of us had for fourteen and a half hours.
After a final flurry of bombing and gunfire:
Quite suddenly, it ceased. The silence was almost overpowering for a time. Then, about five a.m. the 'All Clear' went. We had been subjected, without any real cover to eight hours' bombing!
Yet Hurd still had to remain on the scene for a few hours longer. By now the fires were drawing in firefighters from across southern England:
We stayed there until ten o'clock on Sunday morning when our Sub-officer handed over control to another officer. This officer and his ten pumps, we afterwards found out came from Brighton!
This account came from Hurd in early December 1940. Later that month, on the night of 29-30 December, the Luftwaffe mounted a massive raid on the City of London, dropping more than 100,000 incendiary bombs. Hurd fought fires near Smithfield Market but was injured that night. He would die in hospital on 30 December 1940.
During the Second World War, 327 London firemen were killed.
Frank is rightly honoured as one of those men that volunteered to save lives by fighting fires and to save as much of the city he loved.