Roy served for 27 years in UK fire & rescue services, retiring in March 2017 as Chief Fire Officer and Head of Public Safety (Trading Standards, Emergency Planning & Business Continuity) for Norfolk County Council. As Chief Fire Officer, Roy put into action the principles of joint working and interoperability espoused in current best practice models for incident management, by restructuring his department to mirror the NIMS/AIIMS command structure of Operations, Planning, Logistics & Finance. He merged fire headquarters with his local police counterparts, and introduced joint fire & police operational response capabilities for counter-terrorism, hazardous materials and specialist search. During a 3 year secondment to central government in the early 2000’s, Roy became a national technical advisor across a range of risk management, safety and operational response functions, particularly in relation to national contingency planning, for which he was later awarded an MBE. This national work continued subsequently through involvement in the publication of a range of operational guidance documents, and membership of steering groups and oversight bodies. This included chairing the final drafting group that produced the UK’s Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP), and providing Norfolk as a national pilot for implementation of JESIP. Roy was the UK flood response lead officer, and was instrumental in establishing the national Flood Rescue Concept of Operations doctrine and an asset register for deployment of mutual aid. Roy is a civil protection expert advisor to the European Union, and has served as an EU evaluator for exercises and project proposals, as well as an advisory board member for several EU civil protection projects. During his time as Chief, Norfolk provided an ‘’All Hazards’’ response capability, including the UK component of the EU’s underwater emergency response module, as the only UK FRS operating a diving unit. Roy firmly believes in only telling people to do what you would be prepared to do yourself, and is a swiftwater rescue technician and member of a volunteer search and rescue team. He is a Royal Yachting Association Powerboat Trainer and Centre Inspector, and a PADI Divemaster. Retirement is giving him the time to put some serious miles on the campervan, put the dinghy back on the water, and get back into karate training (he is a second dan black belt). He is married to Julie, and has two sons.