At a launch ceremony in London’s Freemasons Hall, Sir Michael Snyder, the Metropolitan Grand Master presented the first instalment of a £2.5 million funding pledge from London Freemasons to London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton. The funding will provide London Fire Brigade with two extended height aerial vehicles already asked for by London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton as part of a review into the Brigade’s resources she was asked to undertake by London Mayor Sadiq Khan in July. They will be the tallest ladders in Europe for use by a fire service.
London Freemasons approached the Brigade with the funding proposal in recognition of the dedication and professionalism it has shown in making London a safer city.
London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said: “We are very grateful to Sir Michael Snyder and London Freemasons for this first donation and their commitment to raise the significant sum of money to buy such important equipment. It’s important that we have the most effective resources for the city environment we serve so we not only have to consider the reach of our aerial appliances but whether they are agile enough to move around the capital’s narrow streets. This has been an incredibly busy and emotional year for everyone connected with London Fire Brigade and we are very pleased our work has been recognised in this way.”
The appeal is the latest step in the London Masons objective to support the London community and help make London a safer place to live and work, it follows successive appeals to purchase a state of the art Cyberknife for Bart’s Hospital, five rapid responder cars for the London ambulance service, and the recent two million pounds donation to help fund London’s badly needed second Air Ambulance”.
Aerial
platforms are used by the Brigade for a wide range of tasks including as aerial
monitors to put water on buildings from height, high level lighting and as
observation platforms. Previously aerial appliances with higher reach ladders
were unavailable on a chassis size which would allow the vehicles to navigate
London’s streets.
London Fire Brigade currently uses two main types of aerial appliance: the
aerial ladder platform (ALP) and the turntable ladder (TL). The present
operational fleet consists of four TLs and seven ALPs, plus four others used as
reserve appliances for training.
Hornsey Lodge together with all London Masons had the privilege of seeing Sir Michael Snyder present the first of the two tenders bought by Metropolitan Grand Lodge to the new head of the London Fire Brigade, Andy Roe which was parked directly outside Freemason’s Hall at the Craft AGM on Thursday 5th March. Each platform designed specifically to negotiate London Streets will be able to ascend up to 64m making them the tallest mobile platforms in Europe and only marginally below the height of similar vehicles in North America. Once in active service with the London Fire Brigade, each tender will be based at either the Old Kent Road, Wimbledon or Dagenham.
With the proliferation of high rise buildings in our Capital, Hornsey Lodge and all London Freemasons should be justifiable proud of their sterling efforts in keeping Londoners considerably safer in their homes and offices.
The previous successful Metropolitan Appeal raised £2m towards the provision of a second helicopter air ambulance to ensure continuous cover over London.
