London Firefighter

Product Information

In 1991 I was in senior rank and tasked with putting together a major commemorative event at St Pauls Cathedral in the presence of Princess Diana and the two young princes, William and Harry. Some 80 ‘blitz’ veteran firemen and firewomen were invited to attend and to march in the emergency services and military parade from Aldersgate to St Pauls, a distance of just over a mile. We must point out that David’s books can always be found on Austin Macauley desks with a cup of tea throughout the office – Our own staff are truly excited for this interview and we hope it’s an interesting read for you as well.

Early in her firefighting career, Sabrina Cohen-Hatton was on a shift, rushing towards an emergency call. A crew member had been badly injured. Her partner, Mike, was a member of the four-man team. Was he hurt? Was he alive? For the next four minutes and 37 seconds she tried to retain her composure. At the scene, she found that the injured firefighter wasn’t Mike (now her husband). The wave of relief that washed over her was followed immediately by another – of guilt, having felt relief at another colleague’s ill fortune. That second wave changed the course of her life. How have I found my time with Austin Macauley? Well, in a word… interesting. For those that research Austin Macauley Publisher (AM) you might find the phase ‘vanity publishers’ applied to it. It’s a word used to describe something that is done with the aim of getting praise, fame or approval at a price. However, it, and AM’s values, could not be farther from the truth. AM is there to support and guide you from your submission to publication. The Massey Shaw fireboat is an octogenarian. Like others in their 80’s not everything is as fit and well-oiled as things were in their 20’s or even mid-40s. The old girl needs constant maintenance and upkeep. That all cost money and as the most iconic fireboat in the UK I could not think of a better cause than my writing supporting the Massey Shaw Education Trust, its aims and, maybe, seeing this historic craft reach her 100 years and beyond.It wasn’t meant to be antagonistic, they were simply curious, but it obviously was a very odd experience for me.” The decision almost certainly averted an even greater loss of life. “There was a massive risk to my firefighters, but you balance that against the fact that you join London fire brigade to save people’s lives. We wanted to save as many people as we could. That was the bottom line.”

Cotton had gone into the tower to gain an understanding of the nightmare confronting her colleagues. “I could see the conditions when we went in, the severity of the fire. The debris was raining down on us. I knew I was committing them to an extreme situation, and in those situations things aren’t always predictable and that was very frightening.” The latest book from author and retired fireman 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. Ranging from the mid-19th century to the present day, the book includes direct reminiscences by former firefighters alongside descriptions of key historical figures like Massey Shaw, Sidney Gamble and Joe Milner. It takes in such subjects as the IRA’s 20‑year bombing campaign in London and the changing status of female firefighters. In my opinion there could have been more reports on different jobs; the story focused a lot on his emotional situation during the years and he also mentioned and described the time when he joined the Police to bridge over the time before he could join the fire brigade. And I was like "Okay... I thought this book is about a firefighter?". Okay, it's part of his life, but I'm really not that interested in this part. So, please, more firefighting!There is a vast gulf between the numbers of men and women in the UK’s fire service. Even in London, which leads the UK in the total number of women in an operational role, they only represent 7% of its workforce as firefighters! So, with ever dwindling resources the job of a firefighter is arguably more difficult than ever. It remains a role that has always been fraught with physical danger and mental trauma. Sadly, as the Grenfell fire inquiry has demonstrated, it now includes being in the firing line of everyone from politicians to lawyers and the public.

In 2017 Steve Dudeney featured in two Fire Service TV programmes. 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). He also featured in two episodes of the ITV television do*entary Inside London Fire Brigade. Telling of his experiences at the Grenfell Tower Fire (episode 1) and Film crews followed him on his day-to-day duties as a Borough Commander (episode 2). 9/11 FDNY links Just from hearing the initial messages, I wanted to get on the road and get there as soon as possible. I live in Kent, a fair old way away. I took the details, got a postcode, got in my car and drove on a blue light (which allowed her to drive at speed to the fire).From fire prevention work within the community, to specialist rescue skills and working on our fire investigations team. It’s a varied and flexible career path for someone who doesn’t want a desk-based job. Fireman

Cohen-Hatton loves the metaphor of a jigsaw for the eternal piecing together of information that is an incident commander’s life, but a reader trying to do the same with the memoir elements of her book may struggle. Not all the pieces are present and presumably the missing ones are the result of her own risk analysis. David joined the Fire Brigade as a cadet at just sixteen. Awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Brave Conduct as a young fireman, David steadily rose through the ranks of the London Fire Brigade, until he retired from senior rank in 1996. Now, David writes and reflects on his career and experiences, with I Was a London Firefighter being the latest of his work.

Assessment and training

For most authors writing a book is not done on some frivolous whim but rather for serious good reasons. Certainly, you wish to see your work published, it is something that AM clearly understands, but they are not a charity. They are a publishing business and, like any business, without satisfied customers and positive results they don’t move forward, hopefully taking you as an author with them. In extreme situations such as Grenfell Tower, the local authority will dispatch a structural surveyor. But in the early hours of the morning one was not immediately available and Cotton had to make urgent decisions about whether to commit firefighters in the absence of that formal assessment. The author seems like a genuinely lovely guy and has been through such a lot in his life. I wanted to give him a hug quite a lot of the time. I was totally outraged by his terrible treatment when off-duty by the police and this just goes to show how far we still have to go in dealing with institutional racism. It’s a testament of great patience and strength of character that he did not hold grudges. Perhaps coming across as a bit too good at times - I lost count of the number of times I read “I understand why people would do _____, but I have and would never do it myself”. It sometimes came across as a little bit insincere. The building had been a death-trap for the initial attending crews but was relatively safe and the fire was out by 10:30.