Grampian Fire Brigade Collection
History of the Aberdeen Fire Brigade and Grampian Fire Brigade Little is known of the history of the Fire Brigade in Aberdeen before 1721, when the records show that a watchman was appointed to patrol the town at night and raise the alarm if a fire was discovered. There is evidence that a "fire engine" was procured in 1762 from London, a Newsham engine, although nothing exists in the records to indicate where it was kept or of its type of construction. The cost for this was paid by the Sun Fire Insurance Company, which ties in with the rest of the country, where the general practice seems to be that financial assistance towards the upkeep of the Fire Brigade came from (in part) Insurance Companies. By 1776, a building called the "Water House”, which was the water reservoir for all the street wells, had been provided in Broad Street and was the first recorded Fire Station in Aberdeen. Between 1826 - 1834, the Fire Engine establishment was at the corner of Back Wynd/Uni
