The Leintwardine brothers keeping firefighting in the family
"It's basically a family tradition, its something I always wanted to do...I was born and bred into the fire service."Dave Vickress, from Leintwardine, Herefordshire, is not exaggerating - being a firefighter runs in his blood.The tradition began with his father, Derek, who served for 32 years for Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service from 1952.Now, Dave, 62, and his two brothers, Graham, 56, and Robert, 60, have tallied up more than 100 years of service between them as on-call firefighters at the same small station in their home village.
On-call firefighters do the role alongside full-time jobs.Despite the trio being siblings, Dave described the dynamic with everyone at the station as being "like a family"."I'm in charge of the station, there's 13 of us...including myself and my two brothers," he said."It's good, I like being in charge of them; I sometimes wonder whether they wind me up a bit."Dave joined the service in November 1981 and worked his way up to becoming watch commander at the station, a role he has held for about 20 years.
Despite moving to Saundersfoot, Pembrokeshire, 11 years ago, Dave still works on-call at Leintwardine during the week, despite a distance of more than 100 miles (161km)."I come up early on a Monday morning and I go back down either late on a Thursday evening or on a Friday...I stop with my sister, Shirley."His youngest brother, Graham, is about to complete 25 years of service with the brigade in August.He joined as a firefighter and is now a crew commander but his day job is as a postman.Middle brother Robert has been a firefighter for 27 years and is also a carer.
Their father, Derek, was what was called a leading firefighter in his day and previous service rules meant he had to retire at 55.Dave got to spend about two-and-a-half years working alongside him before then."It was good, he put me in my place, I learnt a lot off him," he said."I was always the one that got dirty if he was in charge."Reminiscing, Dave said much had changed over the years - from health and safety to diversity and inclusion."Even our fire tunics. When I joined, we had a woollen tunic and plastic leggings and rubber boots...now we have full protective equipment," he added.
With decades of service between them, the brothers have attended some well-known cases in the county.Dave was present at a huge fire at Bedstone College in 1996 which engulfed the faculty's main building, while Graham attended the 1993 Sun Valley poultry processing factory fire."All three of us attended the large fire in Hereford city centre in 2010 too," said Dave."Very often we go out to incidents, the three of us are on the same appliance."Despite the many years of service, Dave is thinking about winding down."I'd like to see a couple more years, 65 might be it," he said."I owe it to my wife, I've been travelling up and down now for 11 years."
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