Second-generation firefighter ready to retire after 36 years keeping Staffordshire safe

A firefighter who followed in the footsteps of his father has called time on a career which has spanned more than three decades.

Darren Smith will retire tomorrow after serving a total of 36 years and four months for Staffordshire Fire & Rescue Service.

He signed up to the service aged 18 in 1984 – following his father Alf who was a firefighter at Wombourne until his retirement in March 1982.

Darren mainly served as an on-call firefighter – having to respond quickly to incidents – but also had spells working in full-time rolls at Burton and Cannock.

Darren, who turn 55 this month, and has worked in various factories, is retiring after some recent ill health – but admitted he was going to miss it as he recalled the changes he had witnessed.

"At training school there was so much discipline. Boots had to be gleaming as our instructors were ex-Forces and we wore blazers and marched in step to lunch," he said.

"Culturally it was so different. I’ve seen a lot of change, such as the role of the service going from almost purely response-based to prevention. This has been a really important step."

He recalls busy periods, particularly the long, hot summers such as 1995 where he helped tackle heathland blazes. He’s dealt with fire deaths, forest fires, road traffic collisions, and rescued dozens of trapped horses, cats, birds, pigs and dogs.

"Once a sheep had got up a sewerage pipe and was trapped. I was youngest and thinnest, so I got sent in. I had to crawl up there and it wasn’t nice but I got him out," he added.

Darren, who is married to a firefighter from West Midlands Fire Service, has regularly worked 100 to 120 hours on-call per week and has had to deal with some difficult incidents, such as the first fire death he attended in 1986 – and says talking it through with family and colleagues helped a great deal.

He said: "You don’t know what’s coming when you get that call. But over and above everything else I’ve loved serving my community. It’s such a good feeling.

“The job helps people develop in so many ways,” he says. “It’s great for confidence and challenging yourself and that feeling of helping people when they really need you. My advice (when things return to some normality) is come down for a cup of tea and meet the firefighters and chat to them and see what they do. Go for it. It could be the best move you ever make. It was for me."