For many years after Sir Stamford Raffles founded Singapore in 1819, the Fire Brigade was manned by volunteers. Such a system was unable to cope with the rising demand for fire protection when the town of Singapore expanded into the surrounding suburbs. It was in 1888 that the Fire Brigade took its present form of a properly equipped professional organization. The Brigade operated initially with 2 fire stations, 2 steam fire engines and 2 small companies of firemen comprising 16 Chinese and 16 Malays.

Today, the Brigade which was re-named the Singapore Fire Service (SFS) in 1980, has an establishment of 1,300 officers and men, 11 fire stations, a vehicle repair and maintenance workshop and a fleet of 62 fire en-gines, 91 ancillary vehicles and 23 ambulances.

The Service also operates a round-the-clock accident and emergency ambulance service. It has also increas-ingly been called upon to carry out rescue of trapped victims of road traffic, industrial and other forms of accidents.

Each year the Service responds to more than 10,000 fire calls, 50,000 ambulance calls and 700 calls to special rescue incidents.

The Singapore Fire Service is also entrusted with fire regulatory functions to ensure that adequate fire safety measures are incorporated in buildings.

The 10¢ stamp shows a 30 metre turntable ladder which is used in aerial fire-fighting and rescue. One such fire engine costs in the region of $750,000.

The steam fire engine depicted in the $1/- stamp was used in the 1890s.