Whilst on duty in the railway signal-box at Castlethorpe in the early hours of Tuesday morning Mr. Jesse Robinson saw flames coming from Langton House, which is also close beside the main line near Castlethorpe Station, and immediately gave the fire alarm.
Wolverton firemen under Leading Fireman H. Skinner, made a smart turn-out with the major pump, but before their arrival, shortly before 1 a.m. the roof of the house had collapsed. A tender followed, under Sub-Officer A. Yates.
Although the house held no furniture a big blaze raged for several hours, and the Brigade did not arrive back at Wolverton station until 7 a.m.
Injuries were sustained by two Wolverton firemen Bob Cockerill had two stitches inserted in a cut hand, and Les Clarke had a badly-burned right hand and sprained wrist when pinned to the ground by falling debris.
Langton House was bought by Mr. Thomas Thomas, of Lincoln Lodge Farm, Castlethorpe, in January of this year for £1,650, and he intended putting it into use. It is a detached house with stabling. Fortunately, the gale wind blew flames towards the railway lines away from the outbuildings, and a row of near-by cottages. Only on the previous day had water been laid on to the house, while other workmen were on the premises until the middle of the evening. The property is covered by insurance.
The firemen appreciated the kind gesture of Mr. W. T. Clarke, florist, of Castlethorpe, who supplied them with tea at intervals during their six-hour stay.

At Newport Pagnell Council meeting on Wednesday, Mr. W. D. Markham, the representative for Castlethorpe, said there were two engines at the fire and for half-an-hour used the small pipe which did not give any pressure at all. Could they have a report on the efficiency of fire fighting? If the house had not been detached the result might have been serious.
Col. J. P. W.ness (Chairman) Why didn’t they go to the river?
Mr. Markham: I understand they did not have enough hose.
Col. J. Williams: That is their fault.
A report is to be forth-coming.

The Wolverton Express 6 May 1949

Arising from a complaint made by Mr. W. D. Markham, Castlethorpe’s representative on the Newport Pagnell Rural District Council as to the available fire fighting facilities, arising out of a fire at Langton House, Castlethorpe, six weeks ago, a letter of explanation was read from Buckinghamshire’s Chief Fire Officer at a full meeting of the Council held on Wednesday 27th April.
The letter from Mr. E. G. Hobbs (Chief Fire Officer for Buckinghamshire) stated that “the pressure of water in the main was insufficient to support effective fire fighting jets. The main passing the property is recorded as being of 3-inche diameter, although at one point in its route there is a short run of 2-inch diameter pipe. While this restriction naturally creates a frictional loss the effect of it on the flow of water would be very small. You will, of course, appreciate that the fire brigade is principally interested in the quantity rather than pressure of water, as deficiencies in the latter can be made good by the utilization of fire pumps. In fact it would be true to say that there are very few places in this county where unaided, both quantity and pressure of water mains can be considered adequate for fire fighting purposes. It will be my ultimate aim for each fire station in the county to be equipped with at least one appliance carrying its own water supply. In the Castlethorpe area the first attendance of fire appliances includes one such machine from Wolverton, and this machine attended the fire in question. The quantity of water obtained from the main, supplemented by the tank capacity of the water tender, proved sufficient for fire fighting requirements on this occasion.
“As has probably been reported to you the fire had reached a very advanced stage on the arrival of the brigade and its intensity was fanned by the severe gale which was blowing at the time. The efforts of the brigade, therefore, had to be directed to the confinement of the fire to the extent it had gone upon their arrival and to prevent its spreading to the adjoining stable block. In both these endeavours, they were entirely successful, using the water available from the main and contents of the water tender tank. The application of large quantities of water even had they been readily available, would not have been in the interests of fire fighting technique, for unnecessary water damage would undoubtedly have been caused on the ground floor.
“The fire brigade would naturally welcome the presence of water mains of not less than 4-inch diameter where property is at risk. As a result of past planning, however, more often than not we find considerable stretches of 3-inch main have been laid and, of course, Castlethorpe falls within this category. Unfortunately, there many centres of community within the county where no mains water is available at all, and compared with this Castlethorpe is fortunate. Many years must inevitably elapse before water supply arrangements in the county as a whole can be considered reasonably adequate for fire fighting, and for this reason it will be my policy progressively to equip each station with an appliance carrying its own water supply.”

Mr. W. D. Markham said that there was a large quantity of water 800 yards from the fire and with a road approach. This might easily have been taken advantage of the brigade had sufficient hose to cover that distance, but they had not got 500 yards with them. He contended that when they came to Castlethorpe or to any other village they should come with sufficient hose to get to the bulk water supply. What use was it bringing two engines if they had not got enough hose to reach the water that was availably.” They admitted that the water in the main was not sufficient.
Mr. S. W. Lord said he had previously expressed his disapproval that the fire brigade did not carry the length of hose which Olney Brigade used to carry. The water in pits and rivers was not drawn upon as it should be for fire fighting purposes.
Col. J. Williams: It has been our grievance that the hose reel which used to be on our tender was scrapped by the N.F.S. We always carried half a mile of hose and that was sufficient for all practical purposes; and that half-mile of hose was not in odd lengths but coupled up on a drum so that the firemen could run it out as they went along. We should tell them that we would like the reels introduced again.
Mr. H. J. Osborn said there were three big fires during war period and they experienced no difficulty in dealing with the outbreaks at that time.
Mr. Markham agreed.
Mr. Lord: We had the reels then.
Col. Byam-Grounds complained that the county fire authority did not go round and see what equipment was required in each parish to adequately deal with an outbreak of fire. They should certainly ascertain where they could fine the nearest water and take enough hose to reach it.

Mr. E. D. Sykes: What have they done with those lengths of hose?
The Chairman: Scrapped. He reiterated that the mains were not laid for fire extinguishing purposes: they were only used for fires when their capacity allowed. “We can’t undertake to lay mains to extinguish fires in every quarter of 100 square miles.” he said. “It would be entail an expense which even the Socialist Government would recoil from.” With regard to the hose reels he agreed that they should put in a strong representation that in the report from the Chief Fire Officer no mention was made of the use of reels, which was part of the equipment when that Council had charge of the fire brigade and which was the proper answer to a great number of the situations that would arise in that rural area. He added that they had plenty of static water but not enough hose, and that was due to the fact that they had dropped what had been provided.
Mr. Markham proposed that the county fire authority be asked to provide sufficient hose to reach static water in rural area on the same principle as the rural district authority used when they had control.
Mr. R. Meakins seconded.
Mr. S. W. Lord said he attended a meting of the Fire Brigade Committee at Aylesbury, and he raised the question of the static water tank at Haversham, and he was assured it was going to have attention. He would follow the matter up.
The resolution was carried, and it was agreed that the views of the Council should be sent not only to the Chief Fire Office for the County but also to the Chairman of the County Fire Brigade Committee (Ald. Dulley).