Burning ambition

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine a typical firefighter at work. Chances are you’ve pictured a fairly burly white man charging heroically into a blazing building. Very London’s Burning. It’s also a stereotype but, to use an obvious pun, there’s no smoke without fire. Nationally, only 3.2 per cent of firefighters are from a black or minority ethnic (BME) background and 3.1 per cent are women. Despite the changing face of Britain, the fire service remains a decidedly white male occupation.

These are figures that the fire service is working hard to improve in its bid to build a more diverse workforce. To do that it needs to convince people from under-represented groups that the service is no longer the preserve of white men, and that it’s a place they’re entitled to be.