Front cover of the 1938 drill manual.
The Auxiliary Fire Service was formed from volunteers at the outbreak of war, to assist the regular fire brigades. Initially many wrongly saw firemen as dodging the forces, but when the bombing began their value was realised. Fire was a huge threat to the British people. Emergency firewater tanks were installed in many towns and where a large water supply such as a river was available pipes were laid to provide water for fire fighting.
Many of the ranks were made up of women, in March 1943 there were 32,200 women serving with the National Fire Service. For the part time fire fighters, men were on duty every fourth night and women every sixth night.

The name was changed to The National Fire Service in August 1941 when the regional regular Fire Brigades and the AFS were merged. After the war the Fire Brigades were split and once again were organised on a regional basis.