Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2012/January 2013 | Page 38

INTERVIEW

Above: Steve's first Christmas at Newport Fire Station. Putting up the Christmas tree lights in 1991.

now done both jobs I can support that
statement. Even when you move up
the ranks you are still part of the team
and a fire fighter at heart.

people if I had gone too far.”
Indeed family man Steve is often
reminded of that fact when at home.
He said: If I ever do the discipline

'I didn’t have any great career plan. I just
had great days as a fire fighter, and was
lucky to have good people around me who
inspired me to get on'
“But it is about leadership, and style.
We can maintain the camaraderie
without me having to disassociate
myself from the team. It’s about
personal leadership style, and I think
I would have been told by enough
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thing there, my five-year-old son Elliot
is quick to tell me ‘daddy, you are not
the chief at home’! Elliot, along with
daughters Nina and Lucia, keep me
grounded.”
Steve, who hails from Liverpool,

joined the IW Fire Service 22 years
ago, and immediately fell in love with
it. He recalls how his predecessor Paul
Street once told him off for smiling
too much. His response was: “It is
because I am enjoying myself.”
He modestly claims he has been
in the right place at the right time,
saying: “I didn’t have any great career
plan. I just had great days as a fire
fighter, and was lucky to have good
people around me who inspired me to
get on.”
He has been involved in big changes
over the past 12 months, including
the switch of 999 emergency calls to
Surrey Fire Service, rather than being
handled locally. He reflects: “It was a
difficult time for many people, but it
was the right thing to do.”
He has also overseen the return of
the IW Fire Service HQ to the old
Fire Station in Newport opposite
Morrison’s, after an £8million new
build was scrapped. Instead the
old building was given a £220,000
makeover, and he and his fire fighters
are rightly proud of what has been
achieved.
The majority of the operational staff
on the Island are retained fire fighters,
179 in all. Then at Newport there are
40 fire fighters on a watch system, and
at Ryde there are a further 18, plus
officers working in specialist roles.
There are 12 fire engines across the
Island, as well as a range of specialist
vehicles. There is also an excellent
range of new fire kit including
breathing apparatus, ensuring the
Island fire fighters are protected as well
as they possibly can be.
Steve continued: “My theme through
the first 12 months is that we are in
a profession so we have had to be
professional in our approach - the way
we are equipped, trained and the way
in which we deliver the service. Just
because we are the smallest Service in
the country, doesn’t mean we cannot
be the best. We want to be excellent,
and I don’t feel embarrassed in saying
that.
“We don’t like to blow our own
trumpets, but I still think it is