Foreword

Foreword

The New South Wales Fire Service and all its fire-fighters, along with all the other fire services around the world, deserve the greatest of respect for what they do. Every time they go to work they take their lives in their hands, and the hands of their co-workers, while they go about their duties saving the lives and property of others.

In recent years the New South Wales Fire Service has gone through a number of significant changes in its structure and the way it operates. I’m told some are still going on. I do not know what all those changes are, and I don’t have an understanding of them. What I do know is their structure, procedures, and processes I’m familiar with from over forty years ago are no longer relevant, or in use, today.

The structure and procedures used in this story are based on my past knowledge, and are amended to suit the needs of the story. Please do not take them as being representative of how the NSWFS operates now, or how they operated in the past. A few terms have been changed by me to make it easier for overseas readers, and those not familiar with fire-fighters, to understand the roles and duties of the people.

The story is told as three stories, and the first two short stories are presented as two of the books written by the main character in them to justify his work as a writer using the pen name of Major Mount in the main story titled A New Role. Some of the personal information is repeated in the other stories so they can be read as stand-alone stories, and to help with the presentation as the written works of the person in the main story. They’re in chronological order for easier reading.

Some of the places mentioned here exist, and some are fictional, while others are fictional variations of the real places.

Chapter 1 »