James Halkett was the first of 15 fire-chiefs to head the Cape Town Municipal Fire Brigade, and Piet Smith the most recent. The fire-chief designation of Superintendent of Fire Engines, which was Halkett’s title, was to change over the years to Captain and later to Chief Officer, but Chief Fire Officer became almost universally accepted after the 2nd World War. Similarly, in line with it becoming the practice of fire brigades to rescue people as well as property from fire and other perils, it became the fashion many years later to adopt the prescription of “fire and rescue services.” And so it was that the Cape Town Municipal Fire Brigade changed its name to the Cape Town Fire & Rescue Service, with effect from April 1, 1989.

At the time of James Halkett’s appointment in 1845, the annual cost of running the Brigade was $160, with the Superintendent receiving $50. The next Superintendent was W Moag, who succeeded Halkett in 1853 and remained in the post for 11 years, until Thomas Bennett was appointed.Bennett was succeeded in 1882 by Charles Haynes, who was Captain of the Fire Brigade in the British tradition of the day, and who took over a service manned by 2 fire wardens and 90 Malay volunteers who were paid five shillings a man for every fire they fought. Haynes steadily set about building a firmer foundation for the service, which with the eventual amalgamation of a number of smaller municipalities with the Mother City, was to be known for many years as the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. On the Captain’s recommendation, the first of Cape Town’s horse-drawn steam fire engines was purchased in 1883 from Shand, Mason & Co of London, and others followed.

In 1902 a self-propelled Merry weather Steam “Fire King” was added to the fleet. Captain F Mitchell, previously fire-chief in Croyden, England, succeeded Haynes in 1904, and within 5 years replaced the Brigade’s horse-drawn vehicles with what was believed to be the first fully-motorised fire-fighting force in the world. This force included the first motor-propelled turntable, a Morris Magirus. On Capt. Mitchell’s retirement in 1925 after a clash with the Council, F L Stewart filled the post until he, in turn, was succeeded in 1928 for one year by A Macintosh.
In 1929, Stanley Thorpe, fire-chief in Brighton, was persuaded to take command of the Brigade, which under his control entered a phase of reorganisation and development. New fire stations were built, at Roeland street, where the Brigade headquarters are situated, and at Sea Point, Salt River and Wynberg. Upon Thorpe’s retirement to England in 1938, P J Considine, a former naval officer, was appointed fire-chief and headed the Brigade through the war years until 1952, when W F Stewart, son of the former fire-chief of the same name, succeeded him, and the Council authorised another modernisation program. The entire fleet was brought up to date, a new fire station was opened in the growing Epping industrial township in 1957, and two years later a new station at Lakeside replaced the old station at Muizenberg. These expansions brought the strength of the Brigade to 232 persons.

In 1961, A Woolf was appointed fire-chief, earning a reputation for strict navy discipline, and it is recorded that the brigade answered some 1800 calls and extinguished 1162 fires. The fleet had 18 fire engines, two equipped with turntable ladders, plus 14 service cars and trucks and a utility van. There were 286 men in the brigade, and the budget for 1963 was R629 684.
Successor to Woolf when he retired in 1967, was T E Perry, who served until J W Hamel was appointed Chief Fire Officer in 1980, leading the Brigade for 15 years, during which time it has matured into one of the country’s most comprehensive, efficient and highly respected fire fighting forces in Africa.
He was succeeded by Chief Fire Officer Donald Sparks in 1995 who has led the brigade into the new millennium. In 2005 Piet Smith was appointed as Chief Fire Officer, his appointment came amidst a changing municipality with the formation of the new Unicity. However he resigned shortly afterwards as he pursued other interests. His successor, Ian Schnettler, was appointed in April 2007.