Firefighter was forced to for 'predatory' apologise advances to single mother

A woman was sexually harassed by a firefighter as he responded to a blaze at her home, as he asked her "why are you single?" and suggested he call around again after his shift had finished

- TARA COBHAM

The mother of one said the Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service watch manager’s “predatory” and “insidious” advances left her feeling “really uneasy” at a time when she was at her most vulnerable – alone in the house with her daughter and dressed only in a dressing gown.

The woman, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals, was prompted to speak out about the incident for the first time after learning the man had since been promoted. “He was behaving like he was drunk in a bar, being quite laddish and strutting around the house,” the now-46-year-old told The Independent.

“He kept commenting on me being a single parent. He said it at least three times. One time he turned to his colleague and said, ‘Oh, she’s single’. Later [asking], ‘So, why are you single?’”

An HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) report, published in March, warned discrimination, bullying and harassment were rife in fire services after a review uncovered incidents in which firefighters “acted out a rape” and used the n-word.

In response, The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) on Wednesday launched a drive to tackle “decades of harassment, bullying and discrimination” in the fire service following multiple damning reports. The union pledged to create its own set of reforms, as it slammed failures as going “right to the very top of fire service management”.