Steve Dudeney

Steve (Stephen) Dudeney (born July 1968) is a senior officer in the London Fire Brigade.

Early life

He was born in Kensington, West London and adopted at 6 weeks old and raised in Stepney & Poplar in London's East End. As a youngster he used to spend a lot of time at his local Fire Station in Poplar and held a desire to become a Firefighter when he was older.

Career

In 1987 aged 18 he joined the London Fire Brigade and after his initial training was posted to Bethnal Green Fire Station. He spent most of his career at Fire Stations in the East End (Bethnal Green, Poplar, Shadwell, Plaistow, Bow) rising up the ranks to Station Officer in 2000. In 2002 he became Station Commander at Poplar Fire Station (near his childhood home) the Station where he served in every rank. He was also Station Commander at Homerton Fire Station in Hackney, Wennington Fire Station in Havering and was the First Station Commander at the new Fire Station in Harold Hill in Havering which was the first newly established Fire Station in London for 13 years. In April 2010 he was promoted to Group Manager and became head of the LFB Leadership and Management Development Team. In April 2012 he transferred to LFB's Special Operations Group.

On 1 August 2013 he was appointed to the role of LFB Borough Commander for the London Borough of Hackney. Responsible for 200 staff at the four Fire Stations in the Borough; Homerton, Kingsland, Shoreditch & Stoke Newington.

Writing

Steve is a regular contributor to a number of International Fire Service publications and was the editor of the British Fire Service Association magazine 'The Journal'. He is best known however for his contribution to online Fire Service articles relating to Fire Service Command, Fire Service Tactics especially around Firefighting in high rise buildings. He is also part of the Management team for the popular UK Firefighting website www.fireservice.co.uk

9/11 FDNY links

Steve along with three colleagues from Poplar Fire Station were among the first British Firefighters to fly to New York in the days following the attacks on the Twin Towers. The group visited many Stations as well as Ground Zero and became pivotal in the fundraising for the families of the New York Firefighters from within the UK Fire Service in the months after the attack. It was US Firefighters raising funds for British Firefighters in World War Two which saw the establishment of the Fire Services National Benevolent Fund (now Firefighters Charity. In 2003 article 'Completing the Circle' in Firehouse Magazine Dudeney explains the story of the WW2 Firefighters and how modern day counterparts repaid the favour to US Firefighters after 9/11. He was involved in the 60th Anniversary celebrations of the FSNBF in 2003 where he accompanied a group of New York Firefighters to the celebration at the Royal Albert Hall.