Fire Service legend passes away: Sir Kenneth Holland, CBE, QFSM, FIFireE, joined the Fire Service before some of its present chief officers were born, rose to the top rank in his profession and went on to become Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Fire Services in England and Wales, retiring in 1981.

THINKING TO START WITH A suitable quotation to illustrate the career of Sir Kenneth Holland, I rejected several before my eye was caught by Livy's "Never is there either work without reward nor reward without work being expended".

I think, and I believe most people who know him will

agree, that the quotation sums up Sir Kenneth's career. Rewards he has had--a knighthood and the presidency of the IFE among them--but probably most of all the reward of personal satisfaction. And there is no doubt that although his father and grandfather before him had been in the Fire Service, they have come as the result of work being expended, over and well above that which would normally be expected of a Fire Service officer.

It all began back in 1937 at Radcliffe Fire Brigade--his father's command--as a retained fireman. The following year he joined Bury, where the young recruit took to the life on a fire station. "I enjoyed it, though it was hard. You were discouraged from studying then. They used to pile on extra work if they thought you were spending time studying."

The next step was a move to Oldham the following year as a fireman and chief clerk in the Police Fire Brigade.

Wartime

Then came the war, nationalisation and the setting up of Fire Forces. Ken took charge of Oldham Central Fire Station. This did not last long. Under the NFS scheme to provide fire protection preparatory to Overlord, the planned invasion of Europe, drafts were sent from various areas of the country to the embarkation areas. Ken Holland was sent in charge of the first draft to Devon where they had to build fire stations, finish building those started, set up workshops and so on. Then he was seconded to the Americans in a marshalling area for the invasion, protecting the areas from Teignmouth south to beyond Dartmouth, working with a US fire marshall.

Ken thought he would be going with the Americans when they crossed to the Continent, but in fact his next post was to the divisional headquarters of Number 29 Fire Force at Torquay. During this time he was one of only 20 people selected for the first fire prevention long courses, and spent several months at Saltdean College, where he later spent a short time as an instructor.

Following the war Ken took a post as divisional officer in Suffolk, in charge of the Lowestoft Division, and from then on his career began to take shape. Appointments followed in Worcester (Third Officer) based at HQ, and Lancashire (Third Officer and Senior Staff Officer).