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A couple of weeks ago I managed to get a copy of London Firefighter, by Steve Dudeney. Well! I've just finished it and it's bloody brilliant. It starts literally at the beginning of his career, in fact in Steves's case earlier, his interest started as a lad, visiting his local fire station.
Continues on the road to promotion to Senior Officer rank. Still, it's never boring, is informative and never leaves you in any doubt, that the man never forgot his roots, and was always a Fireman first, no matter the rank. I'm not an avid reader but I found this book one of those difficult to put down.
So! If you want a good read I highly recommend it, and hope you find it as interesting and enjoyable as I did!
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A fantastic book from start to finish, documenting Steve’s career from the early days right up to his retirement in 2018. Having known Steve for many years it’s been great to read all about the trials and tribulations of being a London Fire Brigade officer.
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Added to my collection of firefighter books from over the years. A firefighter who rose through the ranks to the old Divisional Officer rank as it was years ago.Well worth the purchase I got it on Kindle as it's easier for me to read as I get older. On par with the older books about the London Fire Brigade if not better.
Well done Steve.
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I couldn't put this book down as soon as it arrived. A very honest and frank recollection of Steve's career from start to finish and also how his love of firefighting began. What is clearly evident is his love and passion for the job, for those he worked with and for the public he served. Personally, his story mirrors mine in ways so his book spoke to me more than others, only my career is still ongoing!
I cannot recommend this book highly enough; if you have an interest in firefighting, in the London Fire Brigade or want to have a career in the job then read this book!
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An interesting read and great insight into the career of the author.
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This is a great book. It’s gripping, exciting, and honest and takes you on a true journey through the highs and lows of Steve’s successful career in the LFB. I can identify with many of the incidents and issues although my career timeline was parallel with Steve’s, which was spent in fire service in the South West of the UK. The tragic incident at Gillender St was one that resonated having both received and given input to support Breathing Apparatus training and like Steve, I was on duty when 9/11 in New York happened. The book takes me back to my time in the service which concluded last year and makes me miss it. I highly recommend this book if you can get ahold of it. A must-read for serving and former Firefighters or Emergency Service teams and for this who really want to know about life in the service. Very well done Steve and thank you.
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An excellent and fascinating book, but why did he not use a spell and grammar checker?
I can forgive spelling BEEN as BENE once, but not every time the word is used. The odd full stop is likely to creep in, but continually in the middle of sentences, or even after the word I
It makes him look illiterate which I'm sure he isn't.
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A superbly written chronicle of life in the fire service, you can almost smell the smoke and feel the heat!! You’ll share the laughter, the sorrow and adrenaline-filled highs from someone that’s been there, seen that and has the t-shirt!!! It’s one to read again and again.
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Well, I would say that. Just a shame the publisher didn’t use the final proof, instead, they used an earlier version. To all of the readers, sorry for the typos… fat fingers when typing that the Publisher’s proofreader missed. I’ll work with the publisher to correct this. I hope it doesn’t spoil your enjoyment.
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This is a great read from a man who knows his job.
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One of the best books ever written about a firefighters service. I was keen to read this book as it covers my period of service, and Steve comes up trumps. Several jobs I was on, loads I heard about from others, probably the best insiders view of the day to day life of a London firefighter out there. If you're serving, retired, or just want to know what the jobs about but it, you won't be disappointed
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Great book as a retired firefighter I know Steve, he has shown great insight into his career as a great firefighter.if you a firefighter it's a must read!
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I’ve been waiting for this to be published for a few months now and I am certainly not disappointed. A very readable book from a proper London Firefighter who tells it like it is, warts and all. It took me right back to where I served in the 80s and 90s with some of the situations, personalities and incidents that we attended. Thoroughly recommended for anyone who wants an insight into a firefighter’s world in a big city Brigade..
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Excellent book spanning career in London fire brigade. Best read in a long time!
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I served in the same areas, during the same era, as Steve. He was one of the very few senior officers who stayed true to his roots in the brigade. As a result, he was respected by all of us grunts on the ground.
This is an honest and gritty account of one man’s life in the third, (now fourth), biggest and busiest brigade in the world. It brought back so many memories for me and gave an insight into the ‘dark side’ that was senior management within the LFB.
Until next time Dude xx
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A great read takes you into the heart of fire service life, difficult to put down.
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One of the best fire brigade books I have read. Well worth a read!
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This title is a captivating read. The journey of Stephen throughout his career in one of the busiest fire services in the world.
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Coincidently my career ran an almost identical path with the authors. Even the fight against cigarettes struck a chord! The only difference was this was a insight into life in London compared to mine OTB in Essex. I found this really interesting. Really enjoyed the detail and dilemmas faced along the way. Associating with the emotions the author has shared with my own. This was a added bonus for me personally. Highly recommended.
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To be able to go through life doing what you dreamed about doing from a young teenager and then not only making that dream come true but excelling in doing it.
You can't have anything but respect for Steve Dudeney from going onto a fire station as a young teenager to joining the London Fire Brigade, working your way through the ranks and still having the respect of his colleagues.
It's a gripping read, which I finished in two days, just couldn't put it down.
If I didn't respect the fire service before I read this, which of course I did, my respect went up tenfold.
Better than the famous Red Watch book in my opinion.
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A great read. Brought back memories of my career. Highlighted the changes we all saw through our time in the job. Also gave an understanding of the Senior Officers, view of things. Which the troops didn’t always get.
Thanks, Steve. The book is now doing the rounds of the Dallas Fire Brigade.
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London Firefighter is a gripping and involving autobiographical account of a man’s career and life as a firefighter, in and around the Bethnal Green area of East London. I’ve always enjoyed reading autobiographies by members of the armed forces and emergency services - books like Andy McNab’s accounts of covert SAS operations in war zones - and London Firefighter is a welcome edition to that genre of works. I was also a fan of the TV show “London’s Burning” in the late 80’s and early 90’s, so I particularly looked forward to reading this book.
The author details his early years in the fire service in the late 1980’s, including an arduous 20 week training course, and his early days as a relative novice firefighter at Bethnal Green Station. He depicts the horrors of the King’s Cross Underground fire disaster in 1987, attending to cars left ablaze in the streets, helping people stuck in lifts, dousing burning piles of rubbish, and he gives an especially hair raising account of rescuing of a lost soul who seemingly thought it a good idea to clamber up an electricity pylon and lose his trousers around his ankles in the process. I had feelings of vertigo just reading about the pylon incident.
The author gives a nicely linear chronological account of his impressive progression up the ranks of the fire service, involving moves to Poplar and then Plaistow Fire Stations, and later on to Homerton and Shoreditch. He explains climbing the career ladder up to a Leading Firefighter, then Operational Sub Officer, Station Officer, Station Commander and Borough Commander - occasionally locking horns with more awkward and short fused senior members of staff - and moonlighting with a Herculean attempt to learn “the Knowledge” so as to qualify as a London taxi driver, all the while that he’s risking his life to save people from burning, 200 feet tower blocks and fire ravaged homes.
The writer depicts the Gillender Street warehouse fire tragedy, involving the sad loss of life of others in the fire service, and explains how he got to grips with seeing the charred remains of victims in the aftermath of big fires. At points, the book is actually quite chilling, but it’s so authentic that the darker passages don’t really detract from the overall exciting tale of what it’s like to live life as a firefighter.
I especially enjoyed the author’s recollection of a heroic episode on honeymoon in Gran Canaria, where he took it upon himself to help out the local bomberos to stave off a blaze, prioritising the health and safety of others even in the midst of enjoying an idyllic time on holiday with his new wife.
The writer also gives a moving account of a trip to New York in the days following 9/11, when he met up with members of the NYFD and the families of the survivors; the terrorist bomb attacks on the London Underground and bus service in 2005; the Tottenham street riots in 2011; and then the London Bridge attack and Grenfell Tower disaster, both in 2017. The author was either directly involved in these major incidents, or on the peripheries but close enough to express an informed viewpoint on what occurred.
Highly recommended, not only to lovers of “London’s Burning” and the likes of Andy McNab, but anybody who fancies engaging in a searing account of the life of a man who was willing to put himself into the sorts of situations, that perhaps very many other people would flee without looking back too quickly.
