First references to a fire service start in 1830, when The Improvement Commissioners built an "engine house" in Nelson Street. The Local Board of Health maintained a small permanent brigade of men, in 1868, and supported a voluntary brigade.
Not until the Second World War were small local brigades nationalised into the National Fire Service, which eventually came under the control of the County Council. For many years Stroud's Fire Service was based at the Old Town Hall in the Shambles, with the engine stored in the garage (once stables) below. The Fire and Ambulance Station which is now situated in Paganhill, was opened in 1964. From January 2016, this website is managed by Stroud Local History Society |