Firefighter Fatalities: A Case History - Not Learning from Mistakes

This book deals with 13 fires in which there have been single or multiple deaths of firefighters; the last one being at Paul’s Hair World Manchester in 2013. However most of the book describes in detail the fire at Wealmoor (Atherstone) Ltd Atherstone on Stour Warwickshire 2007 in which four firefighters lost their lives. Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service were wholly unprepared to fight this fire; there being evidence of systemic failures from the Chief Fire Officer down and a failure to learn from past mistakes. After the conclusion of two court cases, the (new) Chief Fire Officer of Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service gave lectures and interviews in which he downplayed the size of the fire and the errors of the incident commanders and claimed the court cases should not have been brought.

About the Author :
Mike joined the St Helens Fire Brigade on 4th August 1964. This is now part of Merseyside Fire Brigade but in those days it was a two-station County Borough Fire Brigade with a pump escape, two major pumps and a turntable ladder. During Mike’s early years in the job, the Auxiliary Fire Service was still in being and training of wholetime personnel included training for mobile columns, large scale water relays and rescue from collapsed buildings. He subsequently served in Staffordshire County and then Manchester City, progressing through the ranks of Leading Fireman, Sub Officer and Station Officer. With the formation of the Metropolitan Authorities in 1974, he became part of Greater Manchester Fire Service as an Assistant Divisional Officer. He served for 9 years as an operational Divisional Officer before being promoted to Senior Divisional Officer/Divisional Commander of C Division of GM Fire Service. In 1986 Mike transferred to West Yorkshire as Assistant Chief Fire Officer (Operations). It was at this time that the Government abolished Metropolitan Counties and the seven Metropolitan Fire Brigades in England became separate authorities under the political control of a Joint Board. As ACO (Operations) he was responsible for the risk categorisation and standards of fire cover, all operational matters on fire stations and mobilising control. He was also a member of the five person strong Brigade Management Team that was responsible for a significant revenue budget. In addition to an operational commitment in every rank, Mike held specialist posts in fire safety, fire investigation, staff and equipment procurement. While ACO (Operations) he became secretary of the Operations and Research Technical Committee of the Chief and Assistant Chief Fire Officers Association (CACFOA) and contributed to several technical bodies including: the Association of Metropolitan Authorities, Channel Tunnel Safety Group (CACFOA), Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Group, Central Fire Brigades Advisory Council, British Standards Institution and Civil Aviation Authority. When Mike retired from the Fire Service in 1994, he became an independent fire safety engineering consultant and an accredited expert witness. In recent years Mike has undertaken major fire safety projects for British Nuclear Fuels Ltd, British Aerospace Ltd, TNT Ltd, Sonae Ltd, Aer Rianta, Millennium Stadium Cardiff, Panasonic UK and the British Council along with many smaller projects. As an expert witness, he has acted in civil and criminal cases throughout the UK, and in civil cases in the Irish Republic, Belgium, Greece, the Canary Isles and Hong Kong. In February 2002 Mike completed a five year Research Degree (PhD) at the Department of Built Environment, University of Central Lancashire. The research covered aspects of fire technology, fire engineering, fire economics and fire service management During the period that he has been an independent fire safety engineering consultant he has contributed to several technical bodies including: the Department of the Environment, Institution of Fire Engineers Technical Committee and the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers. In September 2003 he provided written evidence to The Select Committee of The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions) on the White Paper “Our fire and rescue service”. In November 2003 he gave oral evidence to The Select Committee. He has had several papers published and has given presentations to a variety of conferences and organisations.