Guest,
The Salvage Corps operated in London, Glasgow & Liverpool up until about the mid eighties. The were indeed funded by insurance companies and would attend incidents as requested by the fire brigade to carry out a wide range of salvage duties. They drove about in salvage tenders many of which transferred to brigade use on the disbandment of the Corps and did have blue lights fitted. Their appearance was similar to fire fighters except they had their own helmet badge and insignia. Glasgow Salvage Corp if memory serves me was based in the city centre and would respond to incidents all over Strathclyde. They carried a wide array of salvage equipment from smoke extraction to basic tools and ofcourse a plentiful supply of salvage sheets!
If you consider their pay masters being insurance companies it will give you a fair idea of their duties, ranging from making damaged buildings weatherproof, smoke clearance and controlling water damage. They were also equipped to work inside the building during the fire to prevent further damage to property but not firefighting.
Their demise came as a result of economics at the end of the day, other major towns and cities functioned without them and fire crews would do the salvage work so why not in the three cities which had them.
I know in Glasgow some Salvage Corp members joined the fire brigade from the Corp at it's end.
Gio :lol:
