London Firefighter

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To some extent he was able to view the more severe incidents with detachment and just focus on getting casualties out. There is a compelling emotional focus; he lost so many people he was close to, including his inspirational mother.

Powerful diesel engines had the fire engines travelling in excess of sixty miles an hour as they converged on the scene of the South London fire.A really engaging read for anyone interested in London's history, the fire service or just people doing an extraodinary job. It was from these basement entrances that two ominous clouds of black smoke rose into the clear blue sky. They are the person next door… They are like you and me with warts and worries and unfulfilled dreams. It starts literally at the beginning of his career, in fact in Steves's case earlier, his interest started as a lad, visiting his local fire station.

Pike, himself a retired firefighter, has cleverly selected material that delivers both a comprehensive history of the London Fire Brigade and a fascinating portrait of individual firemen and women, at work and (occasionally) at play.What was really interesting is that much of the equipment he is using - though it has different names - is the same as the one we are using. I don’t know how they had done it, but these Spanish fireman had managed to contain the fire and it was now under control. Joanne was even less impressed seeing the damage, after following me down into the dank dark basement where the fire had been. While that completed the circle career-wise for Stephen, he’s since gone one step further, publishing London Firefighter, a book that aims to give readers a sense of the evolution of the London Fire Brigade during his more than three decades of service. It was hard to read sometimes because there were very sad things in it,I don’t think any of us will ever forget Grenfell Tower and obviously there were other stories from his job too.