When people say that the firemen and women of this country don’t deserve a pay increase and they get enough money, it makes me very sad and angry how quickly everyone forgets.  How far shall I go back listing just a few of the  brave deeds from our London Fire Service alone.  

In June 1940 the fireboat Massey Shaw was used in the evacuation from Dunkirk. On 7^th September 1940 the sirens sounded over London and that was the beginning of 57 consecutive nights of bombing.  The London Fire Brigade tried their best to keep control of the devastation and helped save hundreds of lives.  In June 1944 the V1 (flying bomb) attacks started, 99 of these bombs on 3^rd August alone.  In July 1969 while at a call at Dudgeons Wharf 5 firemen were killed by an explosion.   1984 a fire in Oxford Circus underground station with almost 1000 people trapped, it took minutes for the fire brigade to arrive and there were no fatalities and only minor injuries, thanks to their prompt action. Then of course, who can possible forget Thursday 7^th July 2005, when there was 3 explosions on the London underground that left 35 people dead and 2 dead on the bus bombing.  How many injured people did the firemen help to bring out of that terrible place.

These are just a few of the acts of heroism that our fire service officers have done.  What would be our reaction if they stood outside a burning factory and said it was far too dangerous for them to go inside, instead they do go in and tragically some do die as they did in November 2007 when 4 fire-fighters were killed fighting a fire in a processing plant at Atherstone-on-Stour near Stratford.  So please, before you criticise these brave men and woman and say they are paid enough, just think back  and remember what we have the fire service for.

How wonderful is this?  Last week an elderly gentlemen was walking his dog on Morecombe sands.  If you know Morecombe sands you will understand that it is a foolhardy thing to do, as there is a lot of quicksand there and it can be lethal.  I don’t know if the gent in question was local, if he was he should have known better.  Anyway, he became stuck in the quick-sand, which I can only imagine how terrifying it must have been for him.  Luckily someone on the promenade saw him in distress and called for the coastguard, which that in itself lost valuable time as the coastguard is usually for sea borne difficulties. Soon the fire service came and walked out to help the man.  However, they couldn’t get closer than 2 metres from him because of the sinking sands, and the man was getting colder and more distressed by the minute, it was absolutely terrifying.  As the tide came in, and it comes in so fast on that part of the coast, I really thought it was going to end in tragedy, but the firefighters were magnificent.  They lay boards over the sand and a firefighter crawled across to the man who was by now up to his chest in the quicksand and in a lot of distress.  Also the tide was now only about 10 minutes from reaching him.  By now a crowd had gathered close by and the TV and newspaper cameras were there as well.  I have never seem anything so brave in all my life, the firefighter could so easily have come to grief as well, but fortunately they did get the old chap out in time.  He was in a very bad way but the paramedics said he should be OK.  This to me is just another reason as to why we should treasure our rescue services and give them the respect and recompense they deserve.  Now if anyone asks me if the firefighters of this country deserve a pay increase I just think of how easily that old man could have died if they had not persisted in cold and treacherous conditions.  I know I wouldn’t have been so brave, would you?

Does anyone else have the same problem that I have?  Sitting outside in the lovely warm May sunshine I overheard a couple discussing the pay increase that the fire fighters want.  They spoke of the many nights that maybe the men and women of the fire brigade don’t get a call to attend either a fire or a bad accident on the motorways.  They also took great delight in saying how they spend so much of their time just going around checking fire hydrants and possibly getting an old ladies cat out of a tree.  To all this I said nothing.  Not a word.  I sat quietly on my seat in the sun and fumed.

Why is it that people like this couple never put their brains into gear before they open their mouths.  They sit in their safe comfortable worlds never doing anything to endanger themselves but love to criticise the brave men and women that we all seem to forget about, until we need them.

How many of us wives kiss our husbands goodbye in the morning knowing that there is a good chance  they will risk their lives that day by walking into a burning building to save the life of a man, woman or  child.  They have even risked their lives to save a family pet.  We see our fire fighters attending motorway accidents lifting the bodies of babies out of their car seats and laying them out on the ground praying for a sign of life from their limp little bodies.  When we had the terrorist bombings in London, who did we rely on to go deep underground to help bring out the survivors and then the bodies, without even knowing if there were more bombs down there.  And yes, when an old lady living alone with just her cat for company finds it stuck up a tree, who does she call, yes, that’s right, the Fire Brigade and all they ask is a cup of tea in return.

I hope none of these terrible tragedies happen to the couple I was eavesdropping to, but if they do leave the chip pan on by mistake tonight and it catches fire, I wonder who they will call to save their homes and belongings and maybe even their lives.  I also think that it is time that people like myself stopped being the silent majority and spoke up for a change and gave our wonderful men and women of the fire service the recognition they so rightly deserve

In my opinion the fire service has changed quite a lot over the past years they meet an awful lot of new demands on there services, they have to be much more adaptable and yet still appear to be the same as far as the public is concerned, they attend traffic accidents, flooding, and chemical emergencies, this is why I feel most strongly that they deserve the pay rise they have been asking for, Joe Public wastes an awful lot of the fire services time, but they don’t say no, they think about the safety of the public, they just plod on regardless

The Fireman also understand that society is changing we are so multi-cultural so that means the fireman has to adapt and has to be able to communicate with all kinds, even those who do not speak a word of English

A lot of women hesitate on a career in the fire service , not really knowing what is of expected of them, they really do contribute to the emergency services, handling all emergency calls, and watch duty, and notifying everyone when the emergency calls come in, in my opinion keeping things running smoothly