A FIREFIGHTER who has served for more than 40 years at Holmes Chapel fire station has taken the difficult decision to call time on his career.

Paul Brider, 62, has held various roles at the station since joining in 1975, but decided last week that the time had come to step aside.

Having spent his entire career at the Holmes Chapel station, as well as owning his own construction business, Paul says the decision to retire from the service was not an easy one.

He said: “My whole service has been in Holmes Chapel. I have been there since the age of 21, and I got promoted to leading fireman, which is now crew manager, when I was 35. I became the watch manager 16 years ago.

“When I was a lad in the village, the sirens on the top of Crown Wallpapers – as it was then – used to go off, and the bells.

“My next door neighbour was a firefighter, and it got me interested seeing him disappear off on his pushbike. I thought ‘I might have some of that’. I decided to go and apply and got accepted.”

Paul says that Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service will receive around 2,000 applications for every 10 full-time roles, and that the job has exceeded his expectations.

“I have done every type of job you can think of. A lot of what we do is on the motorway, but I have dived into house fires and all sorts – if you can think of it, the firefighters have dealt with it.

“It’s a great job, it’s fabulous. It makes a difference to people and I have loved every minute of it. It has been a privilege to do it.

"When everybody is running away from an incident, we run towards it, and that appeals to me.

“I’m 63 in June and I thought long and hard about this decision.

"We went to a barn fire recently, and it’s not normally my role to do that sort of work but we were short of crew.

“The changes I have seen are unbelievable and the kit now is second to none.

“I’m slightly relieved to be truthful. To keep to a high standard for a long time is extremely difficult.

“You are only as good as the people you work with, and I have one of the finest crews in the county.”