Member update
Dominic Louks, outgoing head of membership, discusses his time in the fire protection industry
IT IS with a heavy heart and the slight trembling of hands that I write my final ever FPA member update. After 18 and a half years working for the FPA, I am leaving for a fresh challenge in a new industry. I will look back fondly on my time in the fire industry, and on working for one of the sector’s most recognisable brands and trusted organisations. I joined the FPA in the autumn of 2000 as
marketing executive. I had graduated from Southampton University, studying marketing, just a couple of years earlier, and had moved to London searching for my path of gold. The FPA was based in Paris Gardens at that time (a short walk from Blackfriars Bridge). I was immediately responsible for improving our suite of promotional literature, attendance at events, supporting our range of publications and courses, and – in partnership with the LGA and fire and rescue services – a roadshow of
seminars increasing awareness and benefits of residential sprinklers. Within a year of starting, we had witnessed
the terrible events at the Twin Towers and the large number of firefighters who lost their lives attempting to rescue and evacuate trapped civilians. I was immediately taken aback by the solidarity and togetherness of the sector. In the immediate aftermath, every fire event or meeting I attended began with a minute’s silence, or the firefighters’ prayer, and you could feel the sentiment and sadness over lost colleagues. Twelve months later and the country was
facing reduced fire cover, as the FBU took industrial action, and with it the army were on the streets with the fleet of green goddesses. I remember this being an incredibly busy time for the FPA, with lots of late nights in the office as a small team worked tirelessly to author, edit, update a range of fire safety
54 JUNE 2019
www.frmjournal.com
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