Hay and district
The Hay Fire Brigade
  Steam power pulled by horse power !  
 

The fire service in Hay became an official uniformed Fire Brigade in 1895, and obtained a new steam-powered fire pump in 1901.
This new machine was also called 'Firefly', just like the earlier hand powered engine used for much of the Victorian age.
The photograph below shows the new Firefly and the Hay firemen in 1901, with some local children getting into the picture as well !

Old photographs
with thanks to
Eric Lewis Pugh
of Hay
Hay fire
engine

1901
Steam fire pump, 1901
Model of Firefly
This beautiful model of the 'Firefly' fire
engine is in the collections of
Brecknock Museum.
 
 

This may have been photographed in September, 1901, when the Hay British Infants School diary said "Owing to a procession Hay firemen, 1903of the Fire Brigade, and the christening of the new fire engine - very few children presented themselves on Thursday afternoon".

Although the smart new fire engine had a steam-driven water pump, the wagon still had to be pulled by horses, and horses still had to be caught and harnessed before the fire engine could go anywhere !
Can you imagine hearing a fire bell and then seeing the fire engine going past behind horses at full gallop !
Life was very different in Victorian times !

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The Hay Fire Brigade
got shiny brass helmets
by 1903 !
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