Dave and I crept up the stairs, the floor had burned through in places as had the floor above, the roof was gone so there was a bit of dull light. The floor was covered in rubble; tiles from the roof, burnt timber, cork and all sorts. Dave took the nozzle and we pushed forward along the floor. The smoke was tolerable, the heat was a different matter. As I breathed in it was searing my lungs, a bit like trying to breathe in over a boiling kettle, I was lying on the floor in a puddle of steaming water trying to find some cooler air. As Dave opened the nozzle we were engulfed in steam as the water cooled the superheated atmosphere above us. I buried my head a little lower and held on for dear life as Dave worked the jet around the large hallway, extinguishing the burning contents. We pushed further and tried making our way into a room on the right. I was suffering a bit now, and as if reading my mind, Dave pulled back and I pushed up to the nozzle. I opened it and aimed in the direction of the fire. I got some relief by breathing in the cool clean air that was being forced out of the nozzle with the water. Soon we had pushed a good way forward but we were taking a real beating. I could feel my skin scalding as the wet fire tunic steamed in the heat...

___________________ 'Deeply personal and blisteringly powerful.’ Tom Marcus, author of SOLDIER SPY The incredible true story of life as a London firefighter. What is it really like to be a firefighter? How does it feel to respond to an emergency call, to know that someone's life hangs in the balance and every second is critical? Into the Fire offers an unforgettable insight into the highs and lows of life in the fire service. Chronicling his thirteen-year career in the London Fire Brigade, Edric Kennedy-Macfoy takes us with him from his training days as a new recruit to his very first fire; from call-outs to cannabis farms, chemical spills and trapped swans to the devastating scenes of road traffic collisions, the Croydon tram derailment and the Grenfell Tower fire. Heart-breaking, deeply personal and at times hilarious, this is his remarkable story.

What is a firefighter? They are the person next door... They are like you and me with warts and worries and unfulfilled dreams. Yet they stand taller than most of us.The latest book from author and retired fireman David Pike, I Was a London Firefighter is an anthology of factual narratives and fictional tales loosely based around the personal experiences of individual members of the London Fire Brigade. Ranging from the mid-19th century to the present day, the book includes direct reminiscences by former firefighters alongside descriptions of key historical figures like Massey Shaw, Sidney Gamble and Joe Milner. It takes in such subjects as the IRA's 20-year bombing campaign in London and the changing status of female firefighters. 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. 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. The book ends with a fresh and compelling description of a horrifying tragedy that no one can have forgotten: 2017's Grenfell Tower fire. I Was a London Firefighter shares with David's previous works - Beyond the Flames, London Firefighters and Fire-Floats and Fireboats - a careful and comprehensive approach to historical research, an eye for striking and unusual narrative details and an understated humour. Above all, it shows an unwavering appreciation of and empathy for the concerns and drives of the ordinary firefighter, born of David's own experiences as a fireman.

Working as a fireman in London’s East End during the early 1970s was no easy ride. In the years before workplace health-and-safety legislation had started to exert its grip, Allan Grice had to cut his fire-and-rescue teeth without the advantages of a breathing apparatus for each member of his crew. Back then, the time-tested strategy was to ‘get in’ – to crawl below the intense heat and ‘eat’ the thick smoke – in order to locate a missing child or to halt a rapidly spreading inferno. In Call the Fire Brigade!, Grice recounts his most memorable experiences as a front-line member of the London Fire Brigade working the city’s East End, with its myriad commercial premises, brooding Thames-side warehouses, seedy tenements and colourful cosmopolitan community, ranging from prosperous manufacturers to down-and-out winos with their body-warming bonfires in derelict houses. Fires in factories, tenements and warehouses, and non-fire emergencies such as the Moorgate Tube disaster of 1975, are graphically described, while the elation of rescue, the sadness of being too late to save lives and the warm camaraderie of fire crews during some of the capital’s busiest peacetime years are vividly depicted.

The New London Fire Department was born in 1767 when Nathaniel Shaw Jr. presented the city with its first fire engine. Since then, New London has had a successful history of emergency medical service, heroic assistance during natural disasters, and fantastic 0firefighting. The city's most notorious fire occurred on September 6, 1781. Under the command of the infamous traitor and New London County native, Gen. Benedict Arnold, British troops set New London ablaze. A great deal of life and property was lost. At a 1786 town meeting, residents began the first regular fire company, which eventually evolved into eight volunteer companies. New London Firefighting proudly chronicles its initial humble volunteer system up to today's technologically advanced apparatus and career personnel.

The full, true story of the dog featured on the cover of Clare Balding's HEROIC ANIMALS ____________________ The incredible true story of Sherlock, the brave dog with a nose for saving lives. Firefighter Paul Osborne works with the Fire Investigation Dog unit, where he handles Sherlock - an excitable, bright-eyed cocker spaniel. What makes Sherlock different? He's the most talented investigative dog the Fire Brigade has ever produced, capable of identifying extraordinarily subtle traces and scents even after thousand-degree blazes - even when he has to wear special protective boots due to the dangerous environments. Today, Paul and Sherlock fearlessly plunge into the most dramatic fire scenes in London, helping to keep the capital safe around the clock. With remarkable insight into the life of London's most heroic working dog, this inspiring account of the London Fire Brigade's four-legged heroes will delight and amaze. Foreword by Dany Cotton, Commissioner for The London Fire Brigade ____________________ Winners of the Mirror and RSPCA Animal Hero Awards 2017 Written in collaboration with and with full support from the London Fire Brigade

War was coming. Everyone knew that confrontation with Nazi Germany was inevitable and that London was likely to be a prime target of Hitler’s bombers. So, in January 1939, Aylmer Firebrace, the Chief Officer of London Fire Brigade, was seconded to the Home Office to plan for the capital’s fire defence. Before joining the Fire Brigade, Aylmer Firebrace had been a Royal Navy officer who had fought in the Battle of Jutland during the First World War. It was following the Armistice that, in 1919, he became principal officer in the London Fire Brigade. He was promoted to deputy chief and finally chief officer in June 1938.. That war struck London soon enough, but it was on 7 September 1940, that Firebrace’s preparations were truly tested with the start of the Blitz. For the next fifty-seven days and nights London was subjected to the longest continuous bombing campaign in history. Then, as the Luftwaffe ranged wider and further across Britain’s towns and cities, Firebrace was tasked with toured the nation to see the effects of the bombing, at which point he saw the need for a national response. The result was the creation of the National Fire Service. Formed in August 1941, by the amalgamation of some 1,600 separate brigades, this remarkable organisation had, at its peak, a strength of 370,000 men and women. It was led for its entire existence by Aylmer Firebrace. As the war continued, Firebrace became Chief of the Fire Staff and Inspector-in-Chief of the Fires Services, being the first and, to date, only person to head all the fire-fighting services in Britain. This body had to deal with the expansion of the Blitz as well as the so-called ‘Baedeker’ raids, the ‘tip-and-run’ attacks, Baby Blitz and V1 and V2 offensives of the later years of the war. In his fascinating account, written immediately the war, Firebrace reflects on the functioning of the fire service at its most testing time. This book is an essential addition to the understanding of the Blitz and how London and the rest of the country survived its darkest hour.