Kevin Harris is celebrating 50 years with Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service (HWFRS).
On 20 February 1973, Kevin joined Worcester City and County Fire Brigade as a Retained Firefighter, Number 994, at the old Malvern Fire Station.
On 8 August 8 1974, Kevin joined the newly-formed Hereford and Worcester Fire Brigade as a Wholetime Firefighter and got married in the same week.
He attended training school at A1 Central in Birmingham for 14 weeks before taking up his first posting at Bromsgrove.
Kevin (pictured) has represented HWFRS in many sports locally and nationally, including track and field, football and badminton, and he has also been on the HWFRS governing sports council since 1974.
More recently Kevin has been involved with the England Fire and Rescue Service football management section and is pleased to have introduced several players from HWFRS to play for England at home and abroad.
As a qualified referee, Kevin has refereed several fire service cup finals and at the World Firefighter Games in Sheffield.
Kevin was promoted to Leading Firefighter on 18 January 1980 and he later transferred to Droitwich in 1995.
Whilst at Droitwich Kevin received the Outstanding Service Medal in 1997 for saving a young girl’s life following a horrific traffic accident whilst he was off-duty.
Kevin is the secretary for the Service’s Mutual Assurance fund and is a champion for Service for Worcestershire prostate cancer awareness sessions.
The pinnacle of Kevin’s career was in November 2013 when he represented HWFRS at the Cenotaph in London at the Remembrance Parade.
Kevin retired from operational duties after 42 years and 6 months on 27 July 2015 and has continued in the Service as an Urban Search and Rescue Technician.
He has now completed 50 years of serving the communities of HWFRS and during this time he has worked under nine Chief Fire Officers (CFO).
The current CFO, Jon Pryce, congratulated Kevin on his career and said: “Kevin’s enthusiasm and hard work have made him a credit to the Service.
“I have had the great pleasure of celebrating the long service of many valued members of staff, however, this is the first time I have been able to celebrate 50 years of service – congratulations Kevin and thank you for your dedicated service.”