Wymondham
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Address: London Road, Wymondham, NR18 9AW Drill Night: Monday Incidents attended: Click here for incident information his is a retained station. It has a crew consisting of two Watch Manager and four Crew Managers and fourteen Firefighters. There is also a Fire Cadets unit based here. |
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If you need a school visit we target these at Year 2 for Key Stage 1, Year 5 for Key Stage 2 and Year 8 for Key Stage 3. If you have someone who is fire-setting and wish to discuss this with one of our advisors please contact us. We are sometimes also able to attend Community events but this will depend on resources, and we tend to target this to priority areas of our service. We do always look forward to hearing from you from you with any other queries.”
Resources
This section contains notes written by the crews of this station.
The Norfolk Market town of Wymondham is situated 8 miles from Norwich. Figures taken from the 2001 census shows that Wymondham has a population of approximately 12,538.
Appliances:
The Control Unit is mobilised to structural incidents where 5 or more appliances are committed or to rural incidents where 7 or more appliances are committed. The control unit will always be supported by a support appliance along with the support trailer. The support trailer was put on the run in June 2011 and carries equipment including shelters and refreshments.
Wymondham Fire Cadets
Wymondham Fire Cadets is currently run by one of the Crew Manager's from the Station. He is supported by a small team of leaders who have all been through the cadet scheme over the past 27 years.
History of Wymondham Fire Station
In 1882, a local volunteer Fire Service was formed.
A crew of twelve Firefighters were summoned to the station by word of mouth though over the years this developed so the police started to set of maroons to alert firefighters to attend the station.
The first appliances used by the service were 2 Shand Mason Manual Pumps, one of which was a 22 manual pump engine. This was a horse drawn pump which had the capability to provide 100 gallons of water per minute to the height of 120 feet. These appliances were manned by the twelve volunteers and if further assistance was required at a fire, then local men would be recruited at the scene. The Shand Mason Manual pumps were towed by Horses which were kept on the Kings Head Meadow. These horses were so well trained and became so use to the maroons that they would move to the gate ready to be attached to the appliances as soon as they heard the maroons set off. Over the years the horses were replaced with a Renault 24 horse-power breakdown truck, which was provided and owned by Semmence Garage.
In January 1883 a new fire station was opened on Market Street. This station was built using funding from Mrs Julia De Rubigne Clarke. The original fire station arch can still be seen today and is used as the entrance to the car park beside the Consort Hotel.
The local volunteer fire service was renamed the Wymondham Fire Brigade in 1935. At this time the newly formed Wymondham Urban District Council provided funding for the crew to replace the 12 manual pump with a motorised Dennis ‘Ace’ fire engine. The Dennis ‘Ace’ had a self propelled pump which had the capacity of providing 350-450 gallons of water per minute. The Wymondham Fire Brigade continued to use this appliance until 1956. During the 2nd World War two further fire stations were opened in Wymondham. One was on White Horse Street and the second was in Drill Yard Abbey on Cock Street. Additional appliances and equipment were supplied under an Emergency Scheme. Records which are available show that over 100 personnel were deployed at these stations.
In 1967 the current Fire Station was opened on London Road. Since the opening of this fire station the firefighters have crewed a number of different appliances including 2 Commers, 2 Dodges, 2 Dennis appliances and most recently 2 Mercedes. During this time the maroons were replaced with call bells which were placed in the firemen’s houses and places of employment. In 1971 firefighters were issued with alerters.
There are currently 20 firefighters at Wymondham who staff the three appliances. The first appliance is a Mercedes 1124. This appliance is known as a Water Tender and has the call sign of WYMP5. The second appliance is also a Mercedes. This appliance is known as a water tender ladder and has the callsign of WYMP3. Both appliances carry a variety of equipment which can be used at various incidents ranging from road traffic collisions through to building fires. The third appliance is a Mercedes 814D. This vehicle is known as a Control Unit and has the call sign of WYMC0. The control unit is mobilised to incidents where there are 5 or more appliances committed. The control unit will act as a contact point between the incident and the main control room. This prevents the control room from being bombarded with lots of different messages from different appliances at the incident.
The Wymondham Firefighters meet once a week on a Monday night for a drill night. During this time the firefighters participate in drills and lectures in order to maintain their competency. Additional drills, training and visits are organised on other evenings or weekends as part of the training programme, or to support local community activities.
The Great Fire of Wymondham
In the early hours of Sunday 11th June 1615 two separate fires broke out in 2 parts of Wymondham. One fire was located in Vicar Street and Middleton Street whilst the second was located and destroyed parts of Bridewell Street, Fairland Street and Market Street. In total over 300 properties were destroyed by the fire that morning. These properties destroyed included the town hall, school house and the Market Cross.
The fires were deliberately started by 3 locals. According to a register in St Andrews Church, Norwich these 4 people were found guilty of starting the fires and all 4 were executed on the 2nd December 1615.
Delays in the rebuilding of some of the properties destroyed by the fire were thought to of been caused by various economics conditions which occurred between 1620 and 1630. Over the years this fire became known as the Great Fire of Wymondham.
If you have any comments or queries please Contact us.
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