The fire, which broke out in the closing room of Messrs. B. Ladds, Ltd., Moor Road, Rushden, at about 6.30, gained a hold underneath one of the benches but automatic sprinklers and the speedy use of chemical extinguishers by the three brothers and Mr. Hugh Ladds held the fire down until the arrival of the Rushden Fire Brigade.

“The boys were excellent. They did everything as a team and worked according to drill,” said Mr. J. Marshall Bailey, M.C., M.B.E., a director of the firm.

The brothers, Ken, Cliff and Tom Bailey, all live at 106, Moor Road, Rushden.

The “Bailey Brigade” went into action when Ken Bailey, who was pumping his bicycle tyres in the garden of the house, saw flames leaping up the windows of the factory. He rushed indoors and told his brothers.

Thick Smoke

“You tell the Brigade. You go and tell Mr. Ladds,” he ordered.

The brothers carried out their instructions and then met Mr. Ladds at the factory. The automatic sprinklers were already at work.

“We rushed up and got the extinguishers going,” said Brother Ken.

“We could not get in the room at first because of the smoke. You could not see the flames because of it.”

The whole building was in darkness, and when the four firefighters attempted to reach extinguishers they received electric shocks.

The electricity was then switched off at the main and when other helpers arrived it was impossible to get light on the scene until an electrician dealt with the wires in the section of the building where the damage had occurred.

“The sprinklers held things down, there is no doubt about that,” said Mr. Bailey, commenting on the damage, which was confined to one area of the room. “The fire would have been bad if it had not been seen and held down quickly.”

Rushden firemen turned out with a pump escape major and a water tender major under Station Officer A. P. Timpson.