A firefighter has retired after 25 years of service at Dunmow Fire Station.

All John Geraghty friends and colleagues clubbed together to buy him a breathing apparatus tally, which is a piece of fire fighting equipment, with his name on it and a commemorative axe. Most of the firefighters at Dunmow have served for five years, and there are only four other people there with 15 years under their belt.

The fire station said: “It’s a huge loss because it’s 25 years experience, when you go into somewhere that might be quite difficult to deal with it’s good to have a good, calm safe of hands that he would be.

“He’s a complete professional and had very high standards all the time, he never put a foot wrong.”

John has been on duty to help at many emergencies, including the Felsted School blaze.

Leading Firefighter James Pearce described him as “a really nice person”.