5:35pm Thursday 18th March 2010
By Michael Pickard
The sounds of bagpipes rang out at Watford fire station as colleagues paid tribute to a firefighter who retired today after a 30-year career.
Crews from Garston, Rickmansworth and Hemel Hempstead travelled to the Lower High Street station, where they lined up to honour Danny Rickett.
Danny, 51, of Gammons Lane, Watford, said: “I'm going to miss it but it's time for a change of direction in life. I feel I have contributed big time and it's a new chapter.
“The thing I will miss most is the people and it's not just the crews. It's the support staff and everybody. It really is like a family.”
Born and bred in Watford, Danny attended Watford Fields School and Victoria Boys School, before joining the fire service aged 21.
He said it was a visit to a fire station that “sowed the seed” for his future career.
“A friend I met when I was 16, his dad was a firefighter and I was so impressed with the job he did,” he said. “And I thought that sounds like the career for me. You're helping your own community. It's exciting.”
Danny began his career at Hertford training centre on March 3, 1980.
He joined Rickmansworth Fire Station, where he spent two years before moving to Watford and then Garston fire stations.
Danny went on to ride one of only two emergency rescue tenders in the county, which were called to the most serious road accidents or unusual rescues.
For seven years he was an instructor at the training centre in Stevenage, where he was head of breathing apparatus, before moving to Borehamwood fire station as head of blue watch.
Danny joined the fire safety team as an inspecting officer, became joined station command at Cheshunt and then returned to Borehamwood as station commander.
From there he became district commander for Dacorum, and it was during this time that the Buncefield explosion - the largest fire in peacetime Europe – took place.
And he completed his career as policy officer for fire safety legislation.
While an officer, he remained an active firefighter who fulfilled two 24-hour duties each week. His last call-out was at 4am yesterday (Wednesday).
Looking back on the past 30 years, Danny said: “It's been a really rewarding job. To me, it's been a privilege to be able to save lives and work with such a fantastic group of people.
“Wherever you go there's firefighters you know around the country. It's like having an extended family.”
Despite a career spent answering a range of emergency situations, it was the Buncefield explosion that Danny described as “the big one”.
He said: “We never expected to have a fire of that magnitude. We trained for having a single tank and that morning, we were confronted with 22 and the after effects of a major explosion. It was different to any other job we had encountered.”
Following his retirement, Danny is looking forward to enjoying his hobbies of skiing, cycling and guitar playing, “but not at the same time”.
He will also continue his charity work, having previously raised money for the Peace Hospice, the British Heart Foundation, the Firefighters' Charity and a leukaemia charity.
Jon Horastead, the south Hertfordshire district manager for safety, said Danny would be missed by his colleagues.
He said: “He's great to work with, he always has a good sense of humour and is very conscientious.
“He will be greatly missed within the department and throughout the fire service.”
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/trade_directory/