Proud to serve
Advanced customer advisor and retained fireman Steven Sadler from Customer Experience was drafted in to help tackle the huge Saddleworth Moor wildfire earlier this month.
While working for Shropshire Fire & Rescue Service, Steven was asked to assist Lancashire Fire Service and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) for a period of 48 hours at what was then declared a major incident on Saddleworth Moor.
The blaze is thought to have started on the evening of Sunday 24 June on land near to Buckton Vale, north of Stalybridge.
On top of scorching temperatures, limited access to water supplies and frequent changes in wind direction, more than 100 firefighters from across the country worked 12-hour shifts to contain the fires.
They were joined by 100 soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Scotland together with a Chinook helicopter able to lift a high-volume pump, capable of pumping 7,000 litres of water a minute, in tackling the blaze.
‘I live in Shropshire and so I respond to incidents for Shropshire Fire & Rescue service, which is based at Hodnet fire station, from home, at weekends and evenings,’ said Steven. ‘When I’m at work in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, I respond to incidents for Staffordshire Fire & Rescue service, based at Hanley fire station.
‘I’ve been a retained firefighter for the last seven years. I cannot emphasise enough just how supportive, understanding, and ultimately socially responsive and aware, Royal Mail has been. Both Royal Mail’s Retained Firefighter policy, and local management decisions, have reflected a socially responsible recognition that retained fire fighters – who are integral to the UK Fire and Rescue Service’s ability to respond effectively to incidents – are an essential element of our emergency services, which now more than ever require the support of large and small businesses alike in order to remain viable.
‘In more recent years it is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit retained firefighters who can give daytime cover, due to a great deal of shift work industries ceasing within the UK. Ultimately, the Fire Service is fully appreciative of any employer who allows their staff to respond during their working hours.’
Working with 10 other firefighters from Shropshire Steven worked tirelessly alongside fire service colleagues from Nottinghamshire to Northumberland to extinguish numerous fires, which at their peak covered an area of seven square miles and burned for three weeks.
‘After around 48 hours we were stood down, sent home for some respite, and replaced by more colleagues from Shropshire and across the country, who continued to do all they could to prevent the fire spreading,’ said Steven.
‘It is a credit to our country’s capacity to rally round during times of crisis, and it is with a great sense of pride that I was able to make a small, yet worthwhile contribution to those in need.’
The Saddleworth moor fire is now being treated as arson after witnesses told police they had seen people lighting a bonfire on the moorland above Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, around 50 minutes before the first 999 call on 24 June.
