Fire-float Pyronaut - Peacetime Service

Peacetime Service

The return to peacetime duties meant less work for the fire-floats, but major fires still occurred. In February 1948 there was a serious blaze at the Hippodrome Theatre, and Pyronaut pumped water from the head of St Augustine's Reach. It was the height of the pantomime season, and amongst the salvage was some of the clothing for the cast, including Sid Phasey's dress suit. A reporter recorded the scene: ‘I find clusters of men soaked to the skin, their eyes red-rimmed with the smoke and fumes, plying their hoses oblivious to the danger that threatened them every minute from above’.

In 1949, a serious fire in wastepaper stacks at St. Anne's Board Mill required the attendance of Pyronaut and many shore appliances, as well as the company’s own motor-launch fire-float. When Rowe Bros' lead works warehouses on Canons' Marsh caught fire in 1950, Pyronaut pumped water from the City Docks. In September 1951, the most serious peacetime oil fire to date broke out at Avonmouth Docks, and Pyronaut made the journey down the River Avon to attend; she pumped water continually for two days. The following year saw her fighting a dangerous fire aboard the m.v. Stalheim in the city docks.

In quieter moments, the crew regularly took Pyronaut for drill periods, to familiarise themselves with the equipment and performance of the craft. A favourite destination during drill was Beese’s Tea Garden at Conham.