Barry’s been a fire service trail blazer
Reporter: by BEATRIZ AYALA
Date published: 30 January 2009
Barry Dixon
A FORMER Chadderton firefighter who rose through the ranks to become head of Greater Manchester’s fire service is to retire.
County Fire Officer Barry Dixon CBE will retire in June after 42 years in Greater Manchester’s Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS), including seven years as chief.
Mr Dixon (58) joined the City of Manchester Fire Brigade as a junior firefighter in 1967 aged 16 years.
Following five years operational service at city centre stations, he was promoted to Leading Fireman in 1974 in the Greater Manchester County Fire Service.
He was station officer at Chadderton in the late 1970s, and also spent 10 years as an active Fire Brigade Union representative.
Mr Dixon was appointed assistant county fire officer (operations) in 1995, deputy county fire officer in 2000 and became county fire officer in March, 2002.
He became strategic director of the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) in 2003, and was awarded a CBE in 2007 for advising on fire and rescue service issues nationally and for his service to Greater Manchester.
Firefighters can retire following 30 years service or from the age of 50.
Father-of-two Mr Dixon, from Prestwich, said: “It has been a privilege to work for a service which can do so much good and is held in high esteem by the public.
“The fire service has changed a great deal during my career, particularly in the last decade, and I am proud of the improvements that have come in Greater Manchester, that are due to the efforts of each and every member of the service.
“After 42 years I feel I have achieved a lot, but there is more to be done and it is time for the service to move forward without me.”
Tributes were paid about his inspirational leadership and dedicated public service.
Rusholme councillor Paul Shannon, chairman of Greater Manchester’s Fire and Rescue Authority, said: “Barry Dixon has given inspirational leadership.
“Working with colleagues, he has transformed the service, making it the most modern and influential in the country.
