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Fire and rescue testimonials |
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“I am delighted to add my support to the landmark centenary of FIRE magazine. “Much has changed in the role and expectation of the Fire and Rescue Service which can be both proud of its heritage and excited about its future. FIRE magazine has provided that continuous thread of Fire and Rescue Service evolution by capturing new technology and sharing good practice in the many facets and challenges for the future. Many congratulations on your century and very best wishes for the future.”
Sir Ken Knight, Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser
“Over the past 100 years, FIRE magazine has recorded in articles and photos the life of the Fire and Rescue Service. This has taken us through the 1st World War, the Crystal Palace fire of 1936 and the 2nd World War when women joined firefighting efforts.
“Today we live in a very different world: its pace is faster, there are more cars on the roads, more aeroplanes in the air, the population is more diverse and concentrated. FIRE magazine has reported on many tragedies over the last century such as the Bradford City football stadium fire in 1985 and the London bombings of 7/7.
“The Fire and Rescue Service has played its part in bringing down domestic fire deaths to the lowest level since the late 1950s. Today the Service is better equipped than it has ever been. We look to FIRE magazine to continue to report the highs, lows, challenges and changes, and to play its part in communicating best practice to all its readers.”
Hazel Blears, Secretary of State, Communities and Local Government
“Our Fire and Rescue Service retains enduring support among the communities we serve. It is vital, therefore, that the changes we bring in to modernise and improve the services we provide are fully debated and discussed.
“FIRE magazine has always played a key role in providing the ideal platform for that essential debate and challenge between professionals working to protect their communities. By highlighting new projects and new ways of working, the magazine plays a crucial role in helping best practice to be disseminated quickly and widely among our Service. “By acting as an agent of change, FIRE has made a significant contribution to the continuing reductions in fire deaths and injuries we are all delighted to see. “The centenary issue is a significant milestone for any publication and I am confident that as FIRE reaches further milestones in the future, it will be able to reflect on a growing contribution to the safety of our communities.”
Steve McGuirk, Chief Fire Officer, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service
“I congratulate FIRE magazine on its 100th anniversary. Through the professionalism and skill of successive generations of dedicated men and women, the Fire and Rescue Service has shown consistently that it is more than equal to the task of tackling many challenges in safeguarding our communities. It is an outstanding achievement that fire deaths now stand at their lowest since the 1950s.
“As we move forward through the next 100 years we look forward to seeing FIRE magazine at the heart of reporting the future challenges, innovations and success stories, as an increasingly diverse Fire and Rescue Service engages with the many different communities it serves.”
Fire Minister Parmjit Dhanda, Communities and Local Government
“Just a short note to congratulate you and everyone at the FIRE magazine on reaching your centenary issue in June of this year. “As an avid reader of the magazine throughout my career, I have found it absolutely invaluable. In my early days in the Service, the main aspect I remember is that it was an informative publication regarding my chosen profession but also a great ‘read’. As I continued throughout my career I have come to appreciate FIRE as a great communication vehicle allowing us to share information and knowledge in the best possible way. “All the best to you and your team (and successors) for the next 100 years.”
Brian Allaway, Chief Fire Officer, Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service
“The fact that FIRE magazine has reached this huge milestone is testament to its editorial strength. It is clear that staff, both past and present, have strived to provide relevant, interesting and wide-ranging stories and features that we all relish reading. Congratulations – here’s to another 100 years!”
Charlie Hendry, CFOA President; Chief Fire Officer, Kent Fire and Rescue Service
“I would like to congratulate you on 100 years dedication to the fire and rescue service.
The magazine is highly respected by the London Fire Brigade and is an invaluable tool to find out new initiatives and operational procedures within an ever changing industry. Here is to another 100 years!”
Ron Dobson, Commsissioner, London Fire Brigade
“FIRE’s great strength is its understanding of the UK Fire and Rescue Service and willingness to highlight success and best practice, while at the same time debating the key issues with measured balance. W L Gore & Associates (UK) Ltd has been proud to be associated with the magazine in a number of initiatives over the years.”
Tim Wight, Associate, W L Gore & Associates (UK) Ltd
“Many have claimed to be the ‘professional voice’ of the Fire and Rescue Service but none has a greater claim than FIRE magazine. In my own experience, from Klopper to Lynch and most significantly with Val Hargreaves, FIRE editors have consistently challenged, when others have just succumbed and have consistently led when others have just meekly followed. “My introduction to FIRE was in 1966 when as a new recruit it was used by my instructors as a mechanism to inform and educate on matters fire. In 1977 it went where others daren’t tread and supported the cause of the firefighters in the National Strike. As a firefighter on a cold and wet Manchester picket line it earned my respect, a respect which has never faulted.
“As a National Officer of the Fire Brigades Union for over 26 years I was fortunate to have the opportunity of representing firefighters and playing some role in attempting to ensure the very highest standards of firefighter and public safety. FIRE magazine was a vitally important colleague in pursuing those aims and its ability to inform as well as influence enabled many of the progressive changes to be achieved. “A hundred years have passed, congratulations are due, and individuals should be fondly remembered. The Integral Framework for the UK Fire and Rescue, proposed by FIRE as its centennial gift to our Service will, if adopted, be a fitting tribute to those individuals who made FIRE the ‘professional voice’ it is.”
Mike Fordham, former Assistant General Secretary, Fire Brigades Union
“FIRE has always been a strong barometer of developments and issues in the UK Fire Service, ever prepared to ask questions and encourage intelligent debate in an informed, constructive manner. Over the many years that I have been reading the magazine it has always been clear to me that FIRE has the best interests of the sector at the heart of every issue.”
Steve Tyrrell, Managing Director, Lion Apparel Systems (UK) Ltd
“I was a personal friend of long standing of Harry Klopper and Val Hargreaves, both sadly no longer with us. I was one of a generation of firefighters who joined in the 1960’s, and for whom FIRE was the only real organ of communication and window on the Fire Service world nationally. I still have my early editions and they provide a fascinating social history of what we now see to be a very different Fire Service from the one we know today. As a keen young fireman, I couldn’t wait to get my monthly edition of FIRE. It was, and I am sure still is, a brilliant magazine.
“Harry Klopper was an extraordinary character and a great champion of the Fire Service. He was also a fine journalist. He lived a few miles from me here in Kent and in has later life I saw him from time to time and he kindly passed on to me some of his books and original reports on, for example, the Aberfan disaster.”
Jeremy Beech CBE QFSM, former Chief Fire Officer of Kent 1988-2000
“For me, FIRE magazine has been a valuable source of information, news and comment for over 25 years. Its independent editorial position has allowed it to be provocative and able to stimulate debate on some of the major issues affecting the fire and rescue services over the years.
“It has been prepared to challenge questionable developments and campaign on issues which have been potentially against the best interests of the firefighting community. Its editorial independence has also meant that there has always been a willingness to carry genuine news which is of interest to its wide readership and to engage with all sides of the fire community. “This approach has successfully provided a balanced mix of content of interest across the spectrum from suppliers and industry specialists to fire and rescue services, fire authorities, local and national government.”
Roger Startin, Joint Managing Director, Bristol Uniforms
“FIRE is the voice, the conscience and thermometer of the Fire and Rescue Service. It has always upheld the finest and best traditions in promoting this proud and highly regarded service; striving to maintain the highest standards, whilst challenging resistance to change, where this has been necessary, offering a balance for those seeking guidance, varied opinion and sound judgement.
“The editors of FIRE have never been afraid to introduce controversy, or criticise decisions which are not seen as beneficial, where necessary ‘throwing down the gauntlet’ and inviting a contrary view. This is healthy, and clearly the role of the Editor, who should both encourage, and act as a catalyst for debate. “FIRE has survived the test of time and of competition, and remains the national voice of the Service, as its ‘shop window’, and long may it continue.
“I have had the pleasure of knowing four Editors of FIRE during my service: Harry Klopper, Val Hargreaves, Simon Hoffman and Andrew Lynch. Each of them, with their own personality, skills and talents, have, in their own way, made a tremendous contribution to the saving of lives, and property from fire in the UK; and I must pay tribute to all of them, for the way in which we have personally been allowed an input to the magazine (in my case, for over 47 years).
“I would mention, in particular, the present Editor, Andrew Lynch, who took up office at a very difficult time, but gained in confidence and strength, as he developed fine oratory skills, expressed with wisdom and common sense, rational argument, and at times, offers a feisty challenge to those with influence. Possibly his Yorkshire roots have some bearing on that! “But it was another Editor, also with Yorkshire roots, having been born on a fire station in Leeds, with which most of FIRE’s readers will be familiar. I refer of course to Val Hargreaves MBE, a woman Editor, in what was at that time a male dominated Service. Often referred to as ‘Mrs FIRE’, Val was born on a fire station in Leeds, the daughter of Fire Chief Jack Perkins, who donated that famous painting ‘Saved’, to the Fire Service College.
“Val was a much loved, dear and loyal friend to both myself and the Service. She will be best remembered for her honesty and fairness, for her ability to fight for the underdog, and to ‘stick up’ for what was right. And when she lost her fight against cancer, it was said that ‘the Service has been robbed of its staunchest champion, never to have worn a uniform’. Fire was her life, her success, and for years, her signature.
“To quote Rudyard Kipling: ‘she walked with Kings, with Queens, with Queen Mothers, and Home Secretaries... Yet still retained the common touch’.
“Val loved the Service, and enjoyed every minute of her life in it. She met so many people through her connections, and in addition to royalty, she had personal friends throughout the world of sport, including rugby and cricket internationals.
“My last memory of Val, one month before she died, was with her on a boat on the Milford Haven Waterway, in Wales, watching a fire exercise; with the sun and the breeze on her face. The boat was appropriately named Lady Courageous.
“I missed Val when she lost her fight for life, but through FIRE magazine, she has left a lifetime legacy, which is indeed testimony to the ongoing fight against the unnecessary, needless and unacceptable impact of fire on human lives, on buildings, on communities, and on the environment. “May I offer FIRE magazine and its staff my heartfelt congratulations and I wish you continued success with everything you do for the people of the United Kingdom.”
Ronnie King OBE, Ost.J, QFSM, F.I.Fire E., Vice Chair National Fire Sprinkler Network; Secretary/Treasurer Federation of British Fire Organisations; former Chief Fire Officer, Mid and West Wales FRS
“Congratulations to all at FIRE magazine on the centenary edition. It is over 40 years since I first started reading FIRE magazine and much has changed over the years. Today the modern Fire and Rescue Service is fast-paced and dynamic and working in that environment the Service depends on being well informed – this is where FIRE magazine comes into its own. As well as highlighting good practice, it offers a forum for exchange of opinion and healthy debate, whilst still being a really good read. Keep up the good work.”
Barry Dixon, Chief Fire Officer, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service
“There is scarcely need to comment on the excellence of the highly regarded journal, FIRE. Clear, stylish and vivacious, it ever reflects the swiftly changing scene, yet keeps a much needed continuity. “Its current gift to the fire world is the invaluable one of identity. Congratulations on your centenary, and here’s to the next. If your readers are the lifeblood, then you are the heartbeat.”
Professor Rosemarie
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