A significant landmark when on 14 July 1934 the LFB started to replace its traditional brass helmet with a new compressed cork design. It would be four years before the changeover was completed. The death of a firefighter, when his brass helmet touched a live cable during firefighting operations, brought about the policy change. Here the brass helmet, introduced by Captain Eyre Massey Shaw (Metropolitan Fire Brigade), a symbol of London's firemen for over seventy years, meets a modern, safer replacement.