Category: Rescue

Hello Guides : How To Be a Firefighter Part 2

At the request of some our readers. I went hunting for stories of how people became firefighters to see if they had any useful advice or tips for people who wanted to go into the emergency services. I went to have a chat to some working firefighters at Southwark Fire Station in London. This first

Hello, Guides: How to be a Firefighter Part 1

All photos by Eleanor Whalley Firefighters are cool. There’s no denying it. They save people’s lives and get to drive around in  huge trucks that make loud noises. Whether you are young or old, there are things in that kind of life that are inherently cool. The comedian  Dara O’Briain puts it perfectly in one of

The Emergency Services Christmas Prayer

In the absence of a Christmas related emergency services story, I give you this. It was sent to me by a friend who is training to be an A and E nurse. While we all enjoy Christmas think of those who have to work the Christmas shift and offer this prayer up for them  

Volunteer Fire-Fighters

In a week of tragedies across the U.S.A, one man talks about the bravery of the volunteer firefighters who have helped so many people’s lives. Any interesting piece in The Guardian- it’s a worth a read. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/18/volunteer-firefighter-texas-boston   

The Hillsborough Report

The Hillsborough Report has finally come out, although I doubt this is the end of this tragic affair. What has been found is shocking to say the lease. The panel discovered that the police had altered more than 160 witness statements in attempt to lay the blame for the disaster on the fans not the

The Hillsborough Disaster

As a new report on the notorious Hillsborough disaster is soon to come out looking at the tragic events that day and the behaviour of one of the key emergency services i.e. the police I though that it would be worth looking over the event itself if only to reminder us of what must never

24hrs in A and E Episode 1

The Lack of Routine 24 hours in A and E is a ‘fly on the wall’ documentary recording the highs and lows of working in the emergency department of King’s College Hospital. On first glance the premise of the show sounds at best slightly gimmicky and at worst highly exploitative. The first episode manages to

The Birthday of 999

Today is the anniversary of the birth of the 999 call. It’s strange to think of a time when 999 hasn’t been around. The notion of not being able to pick up a phone and call the ambulance, fire brigade or the police is a frightening one. But service is less than 100 years old,

Recruitment and Saving the Clipper

Through an FOI request I found out that in the last five years there have been twelve appointments to the Deputy Assistant commissioner grade within the fire service – does the nwfs have any comment that? Although  the amount of women in the fire service has been going up, only 4% of the firefighter service

Keeping Tabs On The Men

You’ve said there was a great camaraderie being on the watch but did you ever have to deal with much sexism being a firefighter? Well when I joined in 1988 there were just very few woman firefighters so it was difficult then but now I speak to women firefighters and they say they have a

Heroes and Heroines

Dany Cotton is the Deputy Assistant Commissioner for the London Fire Brigade and National Chair of Networking Women in the Fire Service (NWFS). She is also the highest ranking female fire fighter in the British Fire service. I sat down and had a chat with her about the highs and lows of the job and saving Cutty

Over 300 volunteers

Here is a little guest post from Ian Brown about the work of the  Swanage coastguard. Their website can be found here. The Blogspot where I originally discovered them can be found here We are very proud of the work of the Coastguard, which often goes unnoticed and very proud of our town so we set

Only 4%

Firefighting has been in and out of the news a lot in the last two months and not necessarily for good reasons. As Julie Bindel points out the recent story about the woman who got 40% burns over her body as a result of pouring petrol from a jerry can to a jug in her

Flying To The Rescue

An Interview with Robert Cocks MD How long have you been a doctor, and how did you get to where you are today? I studied at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine in London from 1976-1981, so I have been qualified for 31 years now! For the first 9 years I trained to be

A homelessness emergency

How do the Emergency Services interact with Homeless people? Brighton, home of the Pavilion and  holiday destination, seems a wonderful place to live.  But it has an ongoing and increasingly urgent crisis of homelessness. Neil Vowles argues that cuts to legal aid and charities, reductions in housing allowance and the increasing unemployment all play apart.  In February Caroline Lucas tabled a parliamentary

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