Running through the book is a series of gripping historical narratives subtitled ‘Yesteryear’s Fires’, depicting the heroic professionalism of firefighters confronted by truly harrowing disasters. The numerous, often highly dramatic illustrations, many from the London Fire Brigade’s own collection, offer a lively commentary on the text. I understand why taking the same colour for the text and the helmet of the firefighter on the cover, but I think a bright red colour would fit a bit more because .

Not to say the rest of the book wasn’t interesting, but after that I wasn’t really sure what the book was building to. David Pike is a renowned author who served in the London Fire Brigade and is a keen supporter of Massey Shaw. I followed him at a distance and looked on in horror as he, just in his shirtsleeves went into the fire alone. From the perspective of a fireman in a large city fire brigade this was unheard of, but I suppose on an island with only limited resources, it was a fairly common practice when the chips were down. A good mixture of anecdote and education - although I did find that during some of the more technical aspects (particularly discussing risk assessments etc) I began to glaze over a bit.Running through the book is a series of gripping historical narratives subtitled 'Yesteryear's Fires', depicting the heroic professionalism of firefighters confronted by truly harrowing disasters. I understand what you mean,” said the German, “but there are none, this is why they are bringing water for the pumpers. From a mental health point of view, I’ve largely survived the fire brigade in terms of the awful things that I saw over the years, but Grenfell really affected me. But the most despicable issue with this work is that the author chose to totally disregard the instruction of his employer to remain quiet about the Grenfell Tower fire and allow the victims and their families to have the tragedy properly examined at the public inquiry. I hope this book shines a light on the modern brigade and how firefighting is a bit of London history.

Item despatched quickly and as described, but damaged in transit due to plastic wrap packaging being inadequate protection. Modest about his own ab But regardless the pure emotion and pride that comes from being with the Brigade will remain unchanged.What is clearly evident is his love and passion for the job, for those he worked with and for the public he served. Before getting a briefing from the Leading Firefighter he told the young BA firefighter: “Go and sit by Lewisham’s pump. Seller has stated it will dispatch the item within 1 working day upon receipt of cleared payment - opens in a new window or tab . I went through the London bombero routine again, this time with some added translation from the German, probably along the lines of “This silly English kid is a fireman and wants to help, he thinks he is Red Adare.

It is a superb accounting of events, happenings, tragedies and euphoria from the point of view of the author David Pike. 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. Some of these remain all-too-familiar, such as the King's Cross fire of 1987 which claimed the lives of 31 people; others, no less terrible, have faded into distant memory. I never understand authors reading their own books cause they aren’t voice actors and you need that to read even a non fiction book.This is a book that needed to be written, as the further we get from these events and recollections of the heroics of ordinary people performing extraordinary feats in the most testing of circumstances, the more likely it is that they will be forgotten altogether. In either case an individual had demonstrated exceptional courage and bravery working in a hostile and dangerous environment. Heavily committed to raising monies for fire service charities, he rowed himself into The Guinness Book of Records whilst attracting many thousands of pounds through his, and his companions', endeavours. I found it interesting learning about his background,about his thoughts and emotions in certain situations and his passion for the job shine through. Joining the London Fire Brigade as a cadet at the tender age of sixteen, David Pike was destined to become very much an operational firefighter.