B A F S A F O C U S M AY 2 0 2 0
Beware of the Lions IAN GOUGH, TECHNICAL ADVISER, BAFSA
The Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 and a Fire Safety Inspection
One of the consequences of staying in lockdown for the past few weeks has for me been the discovery of Facebook. This is all because he was sent a copy of a 1976 newspaper cutting that had been spotted on the West Midlands Fire Service Pensioners Facebook page. Amusingly, a photograph that accompanied the fading text revealed,
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alongside half a dozen other firemen at a fire station in the Black Country, me aged 23. Consequently, having joined the group, I’ve enjoyed meeting up online with people from my early years in the fire service, sharing old photographs and swapping funny stories and happy memories. As one would expect, many of the posts relate to major blazes and other incidents both large and small; together with anecdotes
about colourful characters - many of whom are sadly no longer with us. But, unusually, one recent story features a fire safety inspection initiated by new legislation that had been introduced just as I began to specialise in fire safety work.
A career in fire safety begins
In the summer of 1977 I was posted away from my operational post at Cradley Heath to
