RISK MATRIX

FIRE SAFETY CONSULTANT

Fire Risk Assessor and Fire Safety Training Specialist

John Ryan GIFireE

Retired 2002 in rank of Divisional Officer after

34 years service with various United Kingdom fire brigades.

Served as:

Divisional Commander

Senior Fire Investigator

Senior Staff Officer

Head of Health and Safety

Head of Fire Safety Education

 

OPERATIONS

John served a total of thirty-four years with various United Kingdom fire brigades.  He started his career with Shropshire Fire Service in March 1967 and served with Hertfordshire, Wolverhampton (later to become part of the West Midlands Fire Service), and Derbyshire Fire Services. Since 1978 until he retired in 2002 he served with Grampian Fire Brigade.

The posts held during his career included:

Operational Firefighter with Shropshire, Hertfordshire and Wolverhampton (West Midlands) Fire Services. 

John attended many emergency incidents involving large fires, multiple rescues, chemical and dangerous substances, road, rail and air accidents.

John served as a Recruit Training Instructor at the West Midlands Fire Service Training School before becoming a Leading Firefighter on an operational watch in Wolverhampton.  The following year he was promoted to Sub Officer and transferred to the Fire Safety Department where he took charge of the Petroleum Licence reference.

He transferred to Derbyshire Fire Service in 1975 as a Sub Officer in charge of a watch at the New Mills Fire Station.  A vast amount of rural fire-fighting experience was gained in this post as the highest point  (Kinder Scout) in the Peak District National Park was within the station ground.

In February 1978 John was promoted to Station Officer with Grampian Fire Brigade and posted as Station Commander to Elgin Fire Station.

In 1980 he was promoted to Assistant Divisional Officer and took charge of the North Anderson Drive Fire Station in Aberdeen.  This post also included providing senior officer cover to East Division, which included the area bounded by Aberdeen, Peterhead, Fraserburgh and Inverurie.

John was promoted to Divisional Officer and became Deputy Divisional Commander of East Division in April 1983. This post involved responsibility for the operational, fire safety and training efficiency of a division of 12 fire stations.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT DEPARTMENT

In April 1986 John became the Brigade’s Senior Staff Officer, a post which included the organisation of technical support for the Brigade’s operations, the responsibility for the 15,000 fire hydrants in the Brigade’s area, press and publicity and major emergency incident planning.  During his time in this post he was promoted to cover for the Brigade’s team of principal officers and was often in charge of the Brigade on a day-to-day basis.

EMERGENCY PLANNING

In April 1990 John was appointed the Brigade’s Emergency Planning Officer.  This role involved working closely with the Scottish Office to formulate war plans in light of the ‘Cold War’, which existed in those days.  This task later re-focussed on peacetime emergency planning and concentrated on potential major incidents that might occur in the Grampian area.

PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT

Following Brigade re-organisation in 1993 John became Deputy Head of the newly formed Personnel Development Department.  This Department dealt with all personnel issues from recruitment, training, health, welfare and discipline.

HEALTH AND SAFETY

In March 1998 John was appointed the Head of the Brigade’s Health and Safety Department.  Whilst in this post he compiled a two-year health and safety action plan to assist the Brigade to meet its legal requirements under health and safety legislation.  John worked closely with the Health and Safety Executive to ensure that all requirements were being met.

FIRE SAFETY EDUCATION

John spent the last three years of his career as Head of the Fire Education Unit.  This Unit provides dedicated staff to give fire safety instruction to primary and secondary pupils within the vast schools programme adopted by the Brigade and the local education authorities.  As well as being responsible for the efficient operation of the schools programme he worked closely with other emergency services, voluntary organisations and local authorities to improve community safety in all its facets.

FIRE INVESTIGATION

Throughout the last 20 years of his career John was involved in investigating the causes of fires both as an individual and as part of a joint police forensic/ fire brigade investigation team.  John investigated the causes many serious and/or fatal fires and appeared as an expert witness in the High Court.

The most notable incidents he was involved in or took charge of included:

The Lockerbie PanAm 747 Incident

The Royal Darroch Hotel, Cults, Aberdeen – explosion

Peterhead Prison – hostage situations and subsequent fires

Ocean Odyssey – offshore rig incident

A number of major fires in Aberdeen city centre including Barratt’s Shoes and Poundstretcher.

Aberdeen Grammar School

Robert Gordon’s Institute of Technology

During his career John presented papers at a number of conferences, the subjects included Dynamic Risk Assessment and Health and Safety of Firefighters in Rural Situations.  He also submitted papers to international fire safety journals, the most notable of these being a report into the findings of the Cullen Inquiry following the Piper Alpha disaster.

John also appeared numerous times on television and radio to report on incidents or to give fire safety advice to the community.

QUALIFICATIONS

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