Thames Volunteer Fire Brigade 3.05

Following a disastrous fire in July 1872 when a block of 16 buildings were destroyed in Shortland; public meetings were called, with the purpose of forming a Volunteer Fire Brigade to protect their volatile wooden town.

One meeting was held in Shortland and the other in Grahamstown and as a result two independent Volunteer Fire Brigades were established. They were separated by one mile of sparsely populated land that now constitutes the main shopping area.

This arrangement continued until 1887 when the Borough Council convinced the two brigades to amalgamate and form a new brigade called the Thames Volunteer Fire Brigade.

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