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Staines fireman gets award for long service
A firefighter from Staines has been given an award for serving 25 years in the London Fire Brigade.
Andy Hanson, 49, of Canopus Way, joined the service in 1984 after five years service with the former Greater London Council and was given a long service award on November 5 at the London's training centre in Southwark.
He is responsible for making sure the city's 112,000 fire hydrants are working properly, but he has worked in training, health and safety, public relations, and for the past ten years has been the brigade's waste manager based at Finchley fire station.
Mr Hanson said: "We have 112,000 fire hydrants across London and any one of these can be used as a source of water to put out a fire. It is my team's job to make sure they are maintained and ready when they are needed.
"We take water for granted but if we struggled with water supplies the brigade would be in great difficulty.
"It is a very rewarding job, and working for the brigade has been a very rewarding career which I would recommend to anyone. It is a job which has great challenges and opportunities."
One of the highlights of Mr Hanson's career is when he had to call brigade mechanics out after the keys to the pool car he had borrowed from headquarters wouldn't fit the lock or ignition.
But when the mechanic made his way to an identical car nearby Mr Hanson realised he had been trying to get into the wrong vehicle.
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