Customer Reviews

22 reviews

• Alex

  One of the best fire brigade books I have read. Well worth a read!

• David H

  This title is a captivating read. The journey of Stephen throughout his career in one of the busiest fire services in the world.

• Matthew Hughes

  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.

• Paul Wickenden

  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.

• gimon

  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.

• Elena Hookway

  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.
  

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