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an interview with Ron Dobson
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On leaving London:
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Commissioner Ron Dobson talked to FIRE magazine just before his retirement on December 31. He reflected on his career spanning nearly four decades with London Fire Brigade and over nine years in the hot seat as Commissioner
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aking a look back, the Commissioner talks about the highlights of his career. He recalls his first major fire at Alexandra Palace in July 1980 where he attended the 25-pump fire that destroyed much of the historic building. He talks fondly of the time he spent in the training centre and his busiest years as the Divisional Commander for Operations in the Eastern Command of London. “The Olympics were the best weeks of my career,” he says “the whole place was just alive; it was so good to be in London and especially to be the London Fire Commissioner.” His career is punctuated by the major events in London in the past 40 years. He recalls the bombings on 7/7: “It felt like an exercise and that’s one of the reasons why it stands out as a highlight.” He goes on to explain: “I had spent a lot of my time training with other agencies to get ready and to make sure we are able to respond to that sort of thing. We had done lots of exercises as well. So on the day, when it actually happened, it just felt like another exercise. It meant that all that training had been worthwhile.”
When asked about the lowlights, the Commissioner recalls with sadness the deaths of firefighters Billy Faust and Adam Meere at a fire in Bethnal Green in 2004. He reflects on industrial action in 2010/11 over shift pattern change and says this was a real low point. These changes “had to happen” and looking back on it, he still asks himself what he could have done better: “More communication, put the case better to convince people it was the right thing to do? “My career has been about continuous improvement and providing the best possible service to London. During the strikes we were saying to London: we’ve got no fire service. That was a really low point for me.” He quickly counters this and returns to the theme of continuous improvement by reflecting on the fact that attendance times to incidents for fire engines in London are now faster than when he became Commissioner. He is clearly proud that the number of fires in London and the number of deaths related to fire are both lower than when he became Commissioner. www.fire–magazine.com | February 2017 | 13