A TOP East Lancashire fire officer and veteran of international mercy missions is retiring next month after more than 30 years with the brigade.

During a career of life-saving service, Accrington fire station commander Colin Cunliffe has been part of a team which rescued countless casualties in blazes, road accidents and other emergencies.

He has also travelled the globe on overseas aid missions, earning a Chief Fire Officers commendation for his role in rescue operations in the aftermath of the horrific Armenian earthquake disaster.

Assistant Divisional Officer Cunliffe, 55, said: "The fire service is a vocation. It can be very rewarding and I do think that serving the public is a creditable occupation.

"I would not like to think how many incidents I have been to, briefly touching on someone's life, sometimes in the most distressing circumstances. "It's a team effort and I suspect I will miss the comradeship and being part of a team serving a common goal."

Mr Cunliffe is looking forward to 'retirement' and new challenges and experiences, though he will still be involved with the brigade's search and rescue team.

This has taken him on relief projects to Romania to refurbish an orphanage, Tanzania on a clean water project and war-torn Bosnia to renovate a kindergarten.

In November Mr Cunliffe will join fire service volunteers heading for the refugee camps of the Western Sahara to build stores for Oxfam Food Aid.

A member of Church and Oswaldtwistle Rotary Club, he also hopes to be involved in civic and charity projects closer to home.

He has his sights set on taking a degree and spending more time on his neglected hobby of bee-keeping.

He is an enthusiastic sportsman with marathon runs under his belt, as well as a keen walker. Mr Cunliffe started off in an army uniform, spending six years as a professional soldier. A sergeant in the 14/20th Kings Hussars, he served in both Germany and Libya.

He was 24 when he joined the former Blackburn borough fire brigade as a fireman, working his way through the ranks.

After serving as a station officer at Preston and later Blackburn, he worked in fire safety at both Accrington and Blackburn.

He was then posted to the brigade's training centre at Euxton, near Chorley, as course director before being promoted to assistant commandant.

He has been station commander at Accrington since 1988.

Mr Cunliffe lives in Clayton-le-Moors with his wife, Joan.

The couple have a daughter, Susan, a secretary in Clitheroe, and a son, Stewart, who works in information technology at Accrington and Rossendale College.

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