SA Country Fire Service Promotions Unit - History Section
Promoting the Historical foundations of the Service

Piccadilly Brigade - 1984 to Present

Ash Wednesday Two: February 16 1983. Caused the demand for an appliance in the Piccadilly Valley this was due to The Botanic Gardens having problems stopping the fire at the Mount Road. Also it was reported that Stirling CFS decided that they would make a stand at the Church and the Piccadilly Hall and let the valley fend for itself. Another consideration may have been the loss of the Carey Gully Appliance and of lives of some of it's mixed Crew in the dirt section of Gores Rd. The Appliance had apparently run off the road and into a tree due to the thick smoke at the time.

The Church Ladies Guild under a Mrs Robson were the original instigators of the push towards having our own Fire Brigade. A Public Meeting was held some time later at the Piccadilly Hall presided over by John Brown. A steering committee was formed comprising of G & M Rogers, J & J Pearce D. Foote. This organization was then known as Piccadilly Fire Protection Fund.

Both Councils ie Stirling and East Torrens were contacted re the starting up of the Brigade. Negotiations with Stirling failed, the committee felt we could not trust the outcome of those negotiations. From that point negotiations continued with East Torrens as the Piccadilly Hall had offered a small shed to house a quick attack vehicle (14).

From the 13th July 1983 those recruited for Piccadilly CFS joined the Mt George Brigade, with the view of amalgamating our man power and resources with the aim of building a Fire Station at Woodhouse Scout Camp.

On the 22/02/1984 the Piccadilly Fire Protection Fund took over the running of the sale of goods donated after Ash Wednesday and stored in the Piccadilly Hall. This was called the Bargain Centre. After Ash Wednesday 11 The Hut ran a similar thing until 12/1993. A combined Auxiliary was formed on the 01/09/84. On 3th October 1984 and a combined constitution of Mt George/Piccadilly was adopted.

24/01/1985 Three members of the Brigade namely I. Bailey (Captain) G.L. Rogers and D. Foote all shared the cost of a 1971 International v8 4 wheel drive 1200D truck. The cost. $4795.00 From that point on the vehicle was stored at Dean Foote's where it was modified and made into a fire appliance. Ultimately becoming the Brigades first appliance known as Piccadilly 61.

October 1985 East Torrens Council Votes 3-4 to support Piccadilly Starting it's own Brigade.

Inaugural meeting of Piccadilly CFS was held 24/10/85. This was done prior to registration so that the organization was proven to be up and running before registration. There was one major provision of our registration imposed upon us both by the CFS Director and Council that we be self funding for two years.

Registration date of the brigade was 29/11/1985.

12/85 A Public Meeting was held to formally elect members to the newly formed Piccadilly CFS. The Steering Committee was dissolved and the Brigade Management Committee Elected. President J. Ziesing, Vice President J. Pearce, Secretary/Treasurer G. L. Rogers, Committee V. Wakefield, J. Butlin, D. Foote.

In February 1989 CFS HQ came up with what was called Fire Cover Management Prescription. This Prescription was made up by some computer whiz unfortunately he had no idea of the terrain around here, the idea was that there were too many brigades close to each other. This prescription did not take into account that although the brigades may be 3 kms apart in a straight line it may well take 10 kms to go around valleys and hills. Piccadilly, Mt George, Iron Bank and Cherryville were to be closed down.

I sent a letter to the Director reminding him of his promised support. I also reminded him that the statistics quoted about our callouts were incorrect, and also the time span was eight years of callouts from 1980. Piccadilly was not up and running until 1986 so we had only 2 years to establish ourselves and get the trust the other brigades required of us. Our membership at the time was 40 registered Firefighters & 26 Associated Members.

Due to strong lobbying from East Torrens Group Cherryville & Piccadilly CFS survived the cull . No stations in East Torrens were lost nor any Appliances, eventually we got more not less.

On 06/12/89 Stirling Council decided that it was now in agreement to amalgamate Piccadilly and Mt. George Brigades. An agreement had been reached by both Councils that the cost of the one Brigade would be shared.

A letter from CFS director McArthur to East Torrens Council in February 1990, stating that he would no longer support the amalgamation of Piccadilly/Mt George, however he supported the retention of Piccadilly CFS in its own right.

In January 1991 a letter from council requesting our share of the purchase of the new 24 appliances.

The New Shed to house Piccadilly 2 4 was approved by the East Torrens Council 01/02/1991

In February 1991 the Piccadilly CFS requested of the auxiliary $20,000 for the purchase of the new 2 4 Appliance. The breakdown of costs $20,000 from CFS HQ. $20,000 from Piccadilly CFS. $35,000 from East Torrens Council.

On the 24th March 1991 the new Appliance Piccadilly 24 was commissioned and the new fire station opened by the then Mayor of East Torrens, Isobel Bishop.

08/05/91 Letter to Woodhouse Scout Association notifying them that the amalgamation of Piccadilly/Mt George CFS's had fallen through and we no longer needed the land offered by them for a fire station.

September 1991 Piccadilly bought the now defunct Mt George appliance from Stirling Council under Piccadilly Fire Protection Fund. This was used as a training Appliance as our membership was too large for one Appliance.

Piccadilly 14 was built to our specifications and it was some time before CFS would approve it's commissioning as it was not quite the specifications they had laid down, despite the fact that it more than equalled the specifications required. The Appliance was paid for entirely by this brigade.

This information has been sourced from the Picadilly CFS Brigade

Brigade Stations

1984 to Present - Curtis Close, Piccadilly
Photographer, CFS Promotions Unit - May 2011
Google Map reference - Longitude 138.725723 Latitude -34.982149

Captains

Life Members