Hackney People
Graham Howgate - Borough Commander Hackney Fire Brigade
When asked what height he is, Graham Howgate isn’t exactly sure, he just knows he’s really tall, ‘6ft 5 or so’.
Hackney Fire Brigade’s Borough Commander has worked in the service for 27 years, and most of that career has been spent in the borough.
Since 1981, Graham has held a variety of operational, management and training roles. During that time he’s also received a number of honours and awards, for his work in the UK and projects he’s been involved with in Germany, Belgium and Croatia.
As a teenager Graham, who grew up in Stratford, didn’t want to be a fireman. He explained: “I really wanted to be an outdoor activities instructor, that was the original plan.
“But then I got involved with the local fire service while I was doing outdoor pursuits training in Berkshire and began to meet firefighters in London as well. At that point I decided to join the fire service.”
Looking back at the early days, he said: “After completing the fire service training, technically you’ve got the core skills, but all of a sudden, when you have to put it all into practice, that’s a different matter.
“On the first few calls I remember being really pumped up. The adrenaline was quite high.”
Having been Borough Commander since 2001, and ‘in and out of the area since the late 80s’, Graham has seen big changes in Hackney.
He said: “I’ve seen the environment improve a lot. Holes in the roads, street lights not working, piles of rubbish and abandoned vehicles used to be a real problem for us.
“It’s not like that any more and the number of fires started deliberately has also dropped significantly. Seven years ago, two-thirds of the fires we were called to were started deliberately. It’s also no longer the norm to dump rubbish.
“Seeing all these improvements is a real high point of my career.”
Although he could retire in three years time, Graham is going to stay on to be in Hackney for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games.
He said: “It’s going to be a really exciting time for Hackney, East London and the London Fire Brigade.
“It will be worth staying to be part of it, instead of sitting back and watching it from outside.”
When he’s not heading teams of fire fighters across Hackney’s four stations, Graham’s favourite pastime is ski-ing. He qualified to teach on dry slopes years ago and then to teach on snow in 2005.
Graham feels anyone who thinks they’d like to be a fire fighter needs a high level of motivation.
He said: “It’s challenging and demanding and no two days are ever the same.
“But I’ve never woken up and thought ‘oh no, work’. Sure, I’ve thought I’d like a day off, but I’ve never hated the prospect of going to work. It’s a good working environment and you meet really good people.”
Curriculum Vitae Graham Howgate
- 1960 Born in Stratford, East London
- 1976 Left Stratford School with one O' Level and five CSEs
- 1978 General Education Foundation Course certificate at East Ham College of Technology
- 1981 BSc (Hons) in Psychology at North East Polytechnic. Joined the fire brigade
- 1997 Visited Croatia, giving talks on fire service re-structuring after the war in former Yugoslavia
- 2001 Became Hackney Borough Commander
- 2003 Received Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal and Meritorious Service Decoration, BFSA
More information
For a free home safety fire visit and smoke alarm, call: 0800 0284 428. For fire safety tips, visit: www.london-fire.gov.uk.
Page updated: 15 Jun 2010
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