A FIREMAN from Wall Heath has called it a day after 30 years of dedicated service.

Michael Knott has retired from Dudley Fire Station, where he had been based for the last nine years.

The married father-of-two, who lives in Beachcroft Road, has saved countless lives over three decades and served his last day on Thursday (July 22).

His colleagues paid tribute to him on twitter saying: "Dudley fire fighter Michael Knott is retiring after 31 years service to the communities of the Black Country.

"Mick has been a inspiration to our new fire fighters and saved many lives with his support to our community, thank you."

 

 

Michael started his career at a station in Mace Street, Cradley Heath, in 1990 aged just 19.

He moved to Dudley in 2012 and had been based there since.

The 50-year-old said: "I was going to go to uni to become a PE teacher, but the opportunity to join the fire service came up and it was too good to miss out on.

"I've loved every minute of it.

"There's been lots of bad incidents, but also lots of good times.

"It's changed so much with computerisation - when I started there were no computers!

"With all the prevention work now - we go into schools and educate kids - we make sure people have smoke alarms - fires have dropped off.

"At one time back in the day we were dealing with three to four fires a week."

Michael is taking a couple of months off to enjoy the summer with his wife Abigail and children Rebecca, aged 19 and Ben, 16. He plans to enjoy playing more golf, before starting work again as an electrician installing intruder alarms and CCTV.

He said of his firefighting career: "I will miss it. I will miss the camaraderie and the craic with colleagues!"