West Yorkshire Control Unit from 1970's
The first Control units that were used
by West Yorkshire and certainly the first that I remember were the Ford
'D' Series vehicles. These were based on a Ford D1010 chassis with
bodywork by both the Brigade Workshops and Angloco in Batley. The Fire
service had two appliances of this type, one based at Fire Service
Headquartes and the other at Keighley fire station. The purpose was to
provide cover at both ends of the county. These appliances were
identified by there callsigns, 0A/30 being the Keighley based machine
and 0/30 the one at FSHQ. During the 70's the brigade was segmented
into Divisions with the Bradford Division, 'A' Division which included
Keighley was hence the 0/Alpha 30 callsign (0A/30). Fire Service
Headquarters has always used a zero (0) callsign, hence Zero/30(0/30).
I dont have any stand alone images of either machines other than a
later picture taken towards the end of 1980's when one had been
repainted red. The registration numbers of these machines followed on
KWY 734K and KWY 735K. The 734K machine was the first to be disposed of
in the late 70's but KWY 735K lasted until 1982 after its respray and
new lease of life.
These images are of KWY 734K are at operational incidents . The Control Unit attended any MP x 5 or over
Images from left to right, Bradford, Batley, Huddersfield.
KWY 735K The Control Unit for West Yorkshire Until 1982 Here seen in red livery.

A
t the same time as the above unit was operating, it ran in
tandem with another appliance a Breathing Apparatus Tender. both
machines went to any MP x 5 or over anywhere in the county. These
appliances were both manned from FSHQ at Birkenshaw in the place that
is now used by driving school.

Above can be seen both Control Unit
and BA Tender at an incident at Bradford and the BA Tender after its
respray outside Dewsbury fire station.
The Breathing Apparatus Tender reg.no. LNW 880V is a Ford 'A' Series
0610 with bodywork by Angloco of Batley. This appliance went on the run
in 1980 and attended many incidents throughout the county. When these
appliances were re-organised whilst being still based at FSHQ
they were given new callsigns. The BA Tender used 7517 and the Control
Unit used 7518.
In 1982 the next new appliance on the scene was to replace the now
ageing Control Unit.This was replaced by another Ford VWR821X similar
in style to the BAT and also based at Birkenshaw. This Ford 'A' Series
0610 bodied by Angloco of Batley went well along side it's counterpart
but proved rather small inside whilst in operation at incidents.
In 2001 after a build by West Yorkshire Fire service workshops a new Command Unit was born
The Brigade has returned to it's favourite type of Control unit after
it has gone full circle over the years. This 'Command Unit' as it is
now called is based at Batley fire station and attends with it's
support pump as before and with a back up pump from the nearest trained
station to the fireground.
This appliance attends incidents that are 2nd Alarms (6 pumps or
over).There is second Command Support Unit, this is a pod and is
still on the run at Cleckheaton as a spare.
These are two of the images taken during the early stages of building work on the command unit
These images are taken inside the Command Unit after completion