Peterborough Volunteer Fire Brigade’s longest-serving fire chief announces retirement after 40 years of service

Peterborough Volunteer Fire Brigade is saying goodbye to its longest serving fire officer, chief Tony De Matteis.

"It's the best decision I ever made”, he said, looking back on his 40 years of service in the only volunteer fire brigade in the country.

Tony joined Peterborough Volunteer Fire Brigade in 1982 and has spent the last 20 years as the brigade’s longest-serving chief fire officer.

After more than four decades fighting fires, he has announced he will be stepping down and retiring in April.

"It’s time now for me to give the time back to my family because they very much deserve it,” Tony, who works full time as a prison officer, said, after years of being on call.

“I’m looking forward to my family not having to ask me if we can go out for a bike ride. Even simple things like going home, having a shower, and putting my dressing gown on – which I’ve not done for years because I needed to be ready if my alerter went off.

“It’s been like having a second full-time job – I was either at work or at the fire station. I’ve worked with some good people, seen things people don’t normally see, and had opportunities to do things that most people haven’t been able to do."

Tony completed his firefighter training in 1984 – the year the brigade celebrated its 100th anniversary and moved from its former King’s Street station to its current Bourges Boulevard home.

In June last year, Tony was awarded a ‘Platinum Champions Award’ by the Royal Voluntary Service and its president, HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, for his years of service to the Volunteer Fire Bridge.

The awards were in honour of the charity’s patron the late Queen Elizabeth II for her Platinum Jubilee.

"The highs have always been if we’ve been able to save lives,” Tony said.

"The fires which stick out in my mind are the ones where you’re looking from the outside and thinking the worst, but once you get to work you manage to get in and save people’s lives.

"I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time. I had a big black moustache and black hair when I started and now it’s all grey.

"I’m not going to disappear. I’ll still be going down to drill nights every now and then and I’ll continue to give them my support – that will never end.

"To anyone wanting to join Peterborough Volunteer Fire Brigade I can’t express how rewarding it is.”

The brigade plan to honour Tony for his 40 years of service with a ceremony at the station on April 4 this year.

‘An inspiration to us all’

"He’s been an inspiration to us all,” Anthony Gould, watch commander and second officer at Peterborough Volunteer Fire Brigade, said.

“He’s always welcomed people in and he’s been a real leader – he will be a massive loss for us and the wider fire service.

"He’s passed on all of his knowledge so hopefully the volunteer fire brigade will continue for years to come.”

History of the Peterborough Volunteer Fire Brigade

Formed by a group of Peterborough businessmen – who believed the efforts of the existing fire brigade, the Corporation Brigade, were ineffective in putting out a fire at Peterborough Infirmary in 1884 – the Peterborough Volunteer Fire Brigade is the only volunteer fire service in the country.

It has operated as an independent, private fire brigade throughout its 138-year history, despite events such as in 1941 when over 1,600 separate fire brigades merged into the National Fire Service, and when the fire service returned to local authority control in 1948.