London Firefighter

Product Information

I have now read London's Firefighters from cover to cover and have not been disappointed by my purchase. The following excerpt is from the chapter “Anatomy of a Fire,” following Station Officer Simon Reece – a third-generation firefighter with the London Fire Brigade. The crews soon disappeared back into the fire, my officer friend got a BA set on and went to the other entrance on his own, following a line of hose into the basement.

In this gripping and informative book, former firefighter Edric Kennedy-Macfoy describes what it’s like to be part of London Fire Brigade and the personal factors which made him join… and leave. With my heart racing and firefighting spirit aroused, I then decided it would be my job to see that he was at least accounted for if anything happened, as I at least knew his whereabouts.Seeing dead bodies and going into a still burning tower is an important duty and it can traumatize you so much and you say he is only "crying"? Not only was he wearing no protection from the heat and flames, but was alone, who would know if he got into difficulty? When I was about 12 I started going to the big library in Mile End to look at picture books full of them. I found it interesting learning about his background,about his thoughts and emotions in certain situations and his passion for the job shine through. As Dave opened the nozzle we were engulfed in steam as the water cooled the superheated atmosphere above us.

Running through the book is a series of gripping historical narratives subtitled 'Yesteryear's Fires', depicting the heroic professionalism of firefighters confronted by truly harrowing disasters. Steve is a regular contributor to a number of International Fire Service publications and was the editor of the British Fire Service Association magazine 'The Journal'. He is best for his contribution to Fire Service articles relating to Fire Service Command, Fire Service Tactics especially around Firefighting in high rise buildings. Finishing his career as Borough Commander, covering the area of the East end where he grew up and plied his trade, over the course of his career he attended some of the most significant incidents to befall London in recent decades, this is his story.

London’s Firefighters is a wonderfully readable, lavishly illustrated anthology of articles, fiction and verse about the London Fire Brigade, most of it gathered from the Brigade’s house magazines London Fireman (1966-82) and London Firefighter (1982-2005). The latest book from author and retired firefighter David Pike, I Was a London Firefighter, is an anthology of factual narratives and fictional tales loosely based around the personal experiences of individual members of the London Fire Brigade. This is covered extensively in my book London Firefighter and having visited Gran Canaria this past week I decided to revisit the story and the scene of the battle. Awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Brave Conduct he also rowed himself into the Guinness Book of Records whilst raising many thousands of pounds for charity.

On 1 August 2013 he was appointed to the role of LFB Borough Commander for the London Borough of Hackney. Personally, his story mirrors mine in ways so his book spoke to me more than others, only my career is still ongoing! One was setting the vehicle up as the control point whilst the leading firefighter collected the nominal roll boards from each of the fire engines.Timeshift Blazes and Brigades was a BBC4 programme looking at almost two centuries of Firefighting history in the UK where he spoke about the changes over the past thirty years of UK Firefighting (1987 to 2017). I was only just inside the wide mall area and by getting low on the floor I could see the legs of the Spanish officer in front of me.