National Fire Service Austin K2 Fire Truck

On August 18, 1941, the local fire brigades of England, Scotland and Wales were combined to more effectively fight large fires resulting from air raids. Eventually 350,000 men and women were involved in firefighting or fire-watching. (Spotting fires and reporting them, not just watching things burn.) The National Fire Service continued until 1947. Many different vehicles supplied the firefighters, and the Austin K2, which also came in a ten-bed ambulance version (the K2Y) equipped fire brigades starting in 1930 and served throughout the war.