Martin Blunden has over 32 years experience in the UKFRS having started his career as a RDS firefighter in Buckinghamshire. Awarded the Silver Axe on his WDS recruits course he served at a number of stations in South and North Bucks as well as doing a 2yr stint as a Fire Safety Officer. He was seconded to Government to deliver a large element of the National Resilience Programme, something he stayed involved with for the remainder of his career, and his team won 2 Deputy Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Delivery. He then served in Hereford & Worcester, where he won the coveted Higgins & Langley International award for his contribution to Water Rescue in the UK, as he and Martin Bills wrote and implemented the Team Typing approach that is used across the UK today. He then served in Hertfordshire where he was again involved in delivering National Resilience assets and led for the UKFRS on JESIP before transferring to South Yorkshire as ACO and then DCFO. In South Yorkshire he established the service vision and a change of culture by leading on the “My Story”. In 2019 Martin was promoted to Chief Officer of the Scottish FRS, one of the largest in the World, where he stayed until he retired in September 2022 working hard to broaden the role and increase the pay of firefighters. During his career he attended a number of the pan-UK incidents and is recognised as a practical, experienced and knowledgeable Incident Commander. He was honoured by the late Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, in the 2021 New Years Honours List for distinguished Service.