Past and present sit side by side at West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue’s new control centre.

For pride of place goes to an old “mobilising and indication panel” which served the Bradford City Fire Brigade control room in 1950.

The brass board used switches linked to name panels to alert firefighters who lived around the station.

When the Birkenshaw HQ was set up in 1974, a former fireman “commandeered” the board and took it home.

Now it has been restored to its former glory by station manager Ben Bush and his colleague Graham Heath. Mr Bush said: “We got to work with Brasso every evening.”

The panel is now outside the new control room and has attracted a lot of interest.

“Many of the men whose names are on there are still around,” said Mr Bush. “It is an amazing piece of memorabilia and we are very proud of it.”

The new control centre was officially opened last week and will become operational this summer.