Retirement

RETIREMENT

AnEccleshall firefighter has retired from the life-saving service after 25 years.

He’s spent 25 years serving the county withStaffordshire Fire and RescueService, and now Paul Shaw is set to hit the continent on his trusty motorbike after taking off his tunic one final time.

Paul, originally from Manchester but who has lived in the county for the last 20 years, has beenputting out fires and carrying out rescues since initially joining the RAF as a firefighter in 1988. In total, he has spent some 32 years with various fire services since leaving the air force.

He’s spent at least six months at most of the wholetime stations across Staffordshire during his time; and since 2018 he has called Lichfield Community Fire Station his home and recently retired as Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Fire Investigation Lead and Station Manager for Lichfield.

Paul, who currently lives in Eccleshall, said: “I’ve had a great working relationship with the staff in Lichfield.They’ve beenabsolutelyfantastic while I’ve been there. “There are anumber of people who have supported me through some‘black dog days’, where dips in mental health have kicked in. “They’re linked to incidents I have attended in the past. They’ll know who they are. They’ve supported me through the bad times and through some of the good times as well. “The support we get from the service and from the Fire Fighters Charity as well is absolutely fantastic.”

And Paul said he is proud of the service his crewshave been able to provide thecityand surrounding areas since his arrival.

He said: “Instantly you’re thinking about the response. Those engines flying out of the doors. That blue-light response is absolutely key to the community and all of Staffordshire. “But we also do alot of preventative and protect work within our business communities and within homes where we are fitting smoke alarms and giving advice. This is absolutely critical to reducing fire deaths in Staffordshire. “I’m really, really proud to have served as afirefighter. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”

Paul has fought countless fires, undertaken rescues and other critical work of a firefighter in his time. Some serious, and some…less so.

He said: “We’ve had incidents where jewellery items have been found on people’s bodies and have had to be removed. “Genuinely the most fun times Ihave had here is working jobs. It could be rescuing kittens or ducklings, or whatever it may be. I’ve been to hundreds of RTCs, fought hundreds of fires. But it’s always those jobs saving animals’ lives or people’s lives which are really important to me. “But you see alot of things. Incidents involving children in particular stay with you. “One of the most significant jobs, which involved many, many resources, was the Stafford Plastics fire,” Paul recalled of the fatal incident at the fireworks factory in the county town which claimed two lives in October 2014.

He said: “Unfortunately, two members of the public lost their lives in that incident. We wanted to try and recover those bodies as quickly as possible for the families, and we managed to do that.Itwas areally arduous job. Those incidents really stick in your mind.”