Harleston fire service enthusiast Chis Wisken hopes to write new book

An enthusiast hopes to channel a life long passion for the fire service into a new book.

Chris Wisken, of Harleston, has been obsessed with firefighters since he first watched Fireman Sam aged two.

This developed into a love of the service, its history and an interest in collecting memorabilia – something he said he never grew out of.

Now, 35 years later, he plans to write a book on Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service, detailing major incidents through the decades and its evolution, with the aim of ‘bringing its story into the public domain’.

Chris said: “I realised there has not been a proper book written on the fire service in Norfolk, aside from a few on past stations, and thought it was time.

“I’ve been planning the book for a few years and I want to get all the research right. It has involved reading books, scouring social media and chatting with firefighters.

“In addition to its evolution I wanted to cover major incidents from the past few decades, from the Norwich Library fire from 1994, the Regent Bowl blaze in Great Yarmouth from 2016, and the Banham Poultry fire from 2020.”

Chris, who works in a supermarket, originally aspired to be a firefighter, but failed the eyesight test. Now, he sits back and watches from the sidelines.

He loves to absorb himself in the service’s history and his collection includes helms, models, badges – ‘everything except a real engine’, he said.

Regarding what attracts him most to the profession, Chris said: “It’s the fact that no day is the same. They don’t know where they’ll end up today and it causes chats locally.

“It’s been something since a young age for me.”

Chris hopes to put pen to paper in the next few weeks.