Museum of Fire Collections

This exhibition contains images from the Museum of Scottish Fire Heritage's collections, formerly housed at the Museum of Fire on Lauriston Place.

Edinburgh has the oldest municipal fire brigade in the United Kingdom, formed in 1824 after the City Fathers concluded that the level of fire destruction in the city was due to poor fire cover provided by the insurance companies of the time, along with the lack of a single firemaster in command. They therefore appointed 24 year old, James Braidwood as Firemaster or Master of Engines. Braidwood had to deal with the Great Fire of Edinburgh during the first year after his appointment. The fire was devastating and the fire service could do little to halt the spread of the fire. Braidwood used the fire though as impetus to organise the service; dividing the city into districts and thoroughly training the men. He developed pioneering fire fighting methods and published a book on the subject in 1830 - "On the construction of fire engines and apparatus, the training of firemen, and the method of proceeding in cases of fire". The fire service went from strength to strength following Braidwood's organisation and the fire service's collections chart its history to the present day.

This exhibition has images of firemen, fire stations and equipment from the 1860s up until World War Two. It also contains printed material from our Library collections as well as images taken at the former headquarters and museum.

The Museum of Fire was located in the old fire service headquarters on Lauriston Place which opened in 1900 and was an active station until 1988. The site is now owned by the University of Edinburgh and the Museum has relocated to Dryden Terrace.

Find out more about the Museum of Scottish Fire Heritage.