St George's House,
Northern Police Orphanage. 1898-1956
Harrogate, Yorkshire, England.
The Harrogate Fire Service were regularly called upon to test the emergency procedures and help train and instruct the management and children of St George's House, in case an emergency should occur. With a structure the size of St George's and the number of children & adults residing there it was important that everyone knew what to do if and when the time came.
The firemen running out the fire fighting hoses and equipment to test that all was working correctly. Every so often they would visit and carry out a practice run.
Familiarity
with emergency exits was an essential routine that the
children were taught. Orderly evacuation was the order of the day,1937.
Fire girls under instruction by the Harrogate Fire
Service.
In case of power failure provide the
children with candles.....
something which in this day would be the last thing anyone would
consider doing, perhaps it was just as well the children did the
Fire drill so regularly.
Excerpt from the Recollections of St George's, written by James
Shepherd.
As a result
of the outbreak of war in 1939, it was not long before an air raid siren
was fitted on the roof of St. Georges, ensuring that we were given very
early warning of any possible enemy air raids. The siren usually sounded
at night and the wailing sound never failed to waken us; as soon as we
heard it we would don our dressing gowns and make our way downstairs to
the common room, the windows of which, during the first two or three
years of the war, were protected from possible gas attacks by shutters
on the outside; on the inside, wooden framed blanket structures were
fitted.
Deus vult