Personal Stories

Dave, England

Father of two, Dave Newton, had been a fire fighter for over 20 years in Preston but even he was shocked to discover that a local estate was witnessing arson attacks every other week. Fire stations were sending two engines at a time - one to put the fire out and one as protection for the other. Worried about the risk to other parts of the city from this unnecessary use of resources, Dave knew something needed to be done.

So, he began talking to young people on the estate to try and understand why they were starting fires and explain the consequences of their anti-social behaviour. Slowly, the young people grew to respect ‘Fireman Dave’ and felt he was there to help. Soon the fires on the estate began to stop.

It became clear to Dave that the lives of many of these young people were “horrific” and that there was a desperate need for youth counselors to help them. So, he trained as a counsellor in his spare time and set up Talk Counselling, funded by Comic Relief, in 2005. It’s a place where young people in Preston can go to talk about their problems and get help to build themselves a better future. Thanks to Dave, there are now nine counsellors offering advice and help at the project and his work has inspired a national ‘community fire safety’ scheme and earned this local hero an MBE.