Dave Fanning

Dave Fanning served in Liverpool and Merseyside Fire Brigades for 35 years. Commencing in 1964 as a16 year old cadet firefighter. Dave served on many stations during his career culminating in 10 years as Officer in Charge of Blue Watch in Toxteth Liverpool.

Toxteth Fire Station had one fire engine and responded to over 5000 calls a year, the station area covered many examples of poor housing and many ethnic minorities. The emergency calls received were initially attended by the one crew consisting of five firefighters before back up arrived. There were many rescues and sadly many fatalities during the ten years Dave was in charge. One particular fatality, a very young child, really affected Dave and he decided to do something to educate young children on the danger of fire. Phil the Fire Engine was the character that Dave created to get the fire safety message across to young children in Toxteth schools. A number of stories involving Phil the Fire Engine were written and used by firefighters from Toxteth appointed as school fire fighters. The stories were read and messages about preventing false alarms and small fires, were delivered by the school firefighters. In 5 years the results were amazing and the fire station won the prestigious Business in The Community Award which was presented by HRH Prince Charles in London. A few years after Dave retired, 3 of the books, Phil the Fire Engine The Barn Fire, Phil the Fire Engine The House Fire and Phil the Fire Engine Bonfire Night were self published. Throughout his career Dave had kept a record of tragic and funny incidents to which he had responded. In 2019 in association with Bowyer Publishing, Dave's first memoir was published under the title ' Fanning the Flames' fighting fires in a dangerous era. A second book 'A Firefighters Tale's of Life and Laughs' covers further stories from Dave's fire service career, moving on to his 'second life', and tells of his efforts to build a business from his years in firefighting and training.