The firefighter at the top of the pole

Dec 31 2007 by Paul James, The Journal

The head of the fire service in Tyne and Wear retired on Christmas Eve after 37 years with the service. After his final shift, Richard Bull told chief reporter Paul James his thoughts on terrorism, attacks on 999 crews, firefighters’ pay, and why the regional assembly would have been a good thing.

RICHARD BULL was working at a butcher’s shop in Sunderland in 1970 when his then boss told him to get himself a career.

That advice certainly paid off. He has completed a glittering career that has seen him rise through the ranks from firefighter to chief officer and leave the Fire Service as one of the North-East’s most decorated and respected public servants.

Mr Bull, 55, was awarded the Queen’s Fire Service Medal in 1998 and made Fellow of the Institution of Fire Engineers the same year, was President of the Chief and Assistant Chief Fire Officers' Association in 2001, and was made a CBE in 2003.

His departure comes as fire deaths in the North-East have fallen from 24 a year to three, and his firefighters are now tasked with prevention work, like fitting smoke alarms to homes, as much as they are responding to 999 calls.

The brigade’s once-perilous financial position has been turned around. Tyne and Wear has new fire stations, last week hailed as national examples by the Government, and bosses have also been investing heavily in new equipment, with a high-power water pump for major flooding incidents the latest addition to their tools.

Had it not been for the resounding ‘No’ vote in the referendum for a regional assembly in 2004, Mr Bull could be retiring as head of all the firefighters in Tyne and Wear, Northumberland, County Durham and Cleveland – part of the bill proposed was a new regional brigade.

When the idea of merging police areas was later raised, Northumbria Police chief Mike Craik was a vocal supporter of the plans for new strategic forces – famously warning the Government not to ‘fiddle while Newcastle burns’.

And Mr Bull still feels the region missed an opportunity when the plans for a merged fire service were consigned to history.

He said: “I would have liked to have seen a regional fire service for the North-East. It would provide a more robust, better-resourced, efficient, effective organisation than continuing to provide it at a very local level.

“Although I believe in local accountability through the local political machinery, I think that could have been achieved in a regional model.

“The North-East is a compact area. We would have had a much more strategic provision of resources throughout the region. And instead of having four chief fire officers, you have one. Instead of four management teams, you have one.”

Public sector pay is top of the news agenda at the moment, but this time it is the turn of police officers to feel aggrieved at the value placed on them by the Government.

Four years ago Mr Bull as fire chief was advising the National Joint Council for local authorities while firefighters hit the picket lines, not an easy position for someone who has known life on the front line.

He said: “We’ve got our jobs to do as principal fire officers to manage that situation and protect the public as best we can.

“I was seeing the firefighters’ point of view on the streets, and the employers’ point of view. I also knew what a firefighter’s job is like and in some ways that will never be the best-paid job in the world.

“In some ways pay levels don’t reflect the level of skills and expertise and demands we place on them. But that’s the economic situation we live in. But even in 2003 I knew that if something had occurred that needed some kind of back-up, firefighters would respond from the picket line to do their best for the community.

“They don’t take that kind of industrial action lightly. They are special, caring people and always react and do their best to resolve an emergency.”

On Christmas Eve, Mr Bull marked 12 years as chief fire officer, and thought this was an ideal time to leave the top job. He is the longest-serving chief Tyne and Wear has had.

He said: “That’s something to be proud of, and it has been a privilege. I’ll miss the people, both inside and outside. There are a lot of great people in the North-East doing some fantastic work that’s not being recognised.”

As for his retirement, he now plans to enjoy more time with wife Eileen, daughters Helen and Gillian and his grandchildren, and enjoy his hobbies of cycling, weight training, collecting postcards, gardening, and DIY.

He said: “I haven’t got anything planned for the future. My life has been so planned and organised by other people, it’s time for me to give some time back to my family and friends, although my grandchildren may have other plans.”

Mr Bull is being replaced by Tyne and Wear’s deputy chief fire officer, Ian Bathgate.