Fire-watching

There were fire-watching duties to do at home, as well: seeing no one showed a light in the Blackout and keeping the stirrup pump, buckets of water and sand at the ready to deal with incendiary bombs. This was done on a rota basis and all the residents, if active and able, took their turn.
Doreen Blake in Brighton behind the Front

During the war years, housewives played a great part in extinguishing fires caused by German aircraft dropping incendiary bombs or Molotov baskets. These were a mass of incendiary bombs that burst into flames as soon as they dropped on buildings. These housewives formed themselves into groups in the various streets and roads where they lived. They were on duty throughout the day and night on a rota system. They would get together, making one a leader. The fire brigade supplied these women with water buck­ets and stirrup pumps also giving them train­ing of how to use them. Wherever a private house had the water buckets and stirrup pumps - for the women to know where to go in a hurry - there was printed on the wall in black paint a circle with two lines crossed at the centre. In fact, there are still two houses in Grove Street, Brighton numbers 17 and 28 where this sign can still be seen.
Albert Paul - Hard work and no consideration