Alex Johnson (firefighter)

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Alex Johnson
QFSM
Chief Fire Officer Alex Johnson.jpg
Chief Fire Officer
Personal details
OccupationFirefighter

Alex Johnson QFSM (born 1967) is a British firefighter, named the “Most Influential Woman in Fire” at the Excellence in Fire and Emergency Awards in December 2019.[1] In January 2020, she started serving as the Chief Fire Officer of South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority (SYFRA).[2] When Johnson started out as a firefighter in Derbyshire in 1992, aged 24,[3] only 1% of firefighters in the UK were women. She said: “I never saw another female firefighter from one month to the next, there were so few of us.”[4]

Career[]

Alex Johnson joined South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue as Assistant Chief Fire Officer in 2017, before being promoted to Deputy Chief Fire Officer in December 2017.[5] She had previously served with Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service for over 25 years, having joined as a firefighter in 1992.[6] At Derbyshire, she served at stations across the county and rose to the rank of Area Manager. She led the service's prevention, protection and inclusion work.[7] She also worked at Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service's training centre, as a Breathing Apparatus Instructor and a Group Manager for learning and development. She is a fully qualified Fire Protection Officer.[8]

Johnson is a member of the National Executive Committee of ,[9] a not-for-profit organisation that aims to inspire, enable and develop women with the Service.[10] In the early 1990s, she attended her first Women in the Fire Service UK conference and the Fire Brigades Union women's school.[11]

Johnson highlighted those two events as a turning point, finding other women who had had similar experiences to her, and giving her a support network across the UK. She met women who held rank and realised she could make things change for the better, for both women and men in the service.[12] She has a passion for supporting other women, and mentors women within and outside of the fire service. She has also re-established South Yorkshire's equality and inclusion group.[13]

Awards and honours[]

In December 2019, Johnson was awarded Most Influential Woman in Fire at the Excellence in Fire and Emergency Awards.[14] In November 2019, she was runner-up in the Public Service category of the Guardian Leadership Excellence Awards.[15]

She was awarded the Queen's Fire Service Medal in the 2021 Birthday Honours.[16]

References[]

  1. ^ "Excellence in Fire & Emergency Awards Winners 2019". FIRE. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  2. ^ "Alex Johnson appointed SYFRA Chief Fire Officer". FIRE. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
  3. ^ "Alex Johnson, Deputy Chief Fire Officer, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service". Women to Work. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  4. ^ "Alex Johnson, Deputy Chief Fire Officer, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service". Women to Work. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  5. ^ "Alex Johnson appointed SYFRA Chief Fire Officer". FIRE. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  6. ^ "New Assistant Fire Chief for South Yorkshire". Emergency Services Times. 2017-12-18. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  7. ^ "Alex Johnson". South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  8. ^ "Alex Johnson". South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  9. ^ "New Assistant Fire Chief for South Yorkshire". Emergency Services Times. 2017-12-18. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  10. ^ Wallington, Neil (2019-03-04). "Women in the Fire Service (UK)". International Fire Fighter. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  11. ^ "Alex Johnson, Deputy Chief Fire Officer, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service". Women to Work. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  12. ^ "Alex Johnson, Deputy Chief Fire Officer, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service". Women to Work. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  13. ^ Williams, Rachel (2019-11-27). "Guardian Public Service Awards: leadership excellence winner". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  14. ^ "Excellence in Fire & Emergency Awards Winners 2019". FIRE. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  15. ^ Williams, Rachel (2019-11-27). "Guardian Public Service Awards: leadership excellence winner". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  16. ^ "The Queen's Birthday Honours list 2021". The London Gazette. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
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