SONS following in their fathers' firefighting footsteps have been highlighted to celebrate Father’s Day.

Station manager Jason Gould, watch manager Dan Davis and crew manager Tom Jewell of Dovercourt Fire Station all followed in their fathers’ footsteps at Essex County Fire and Rescue Service.

Jason’s dad Tony was an on-call firefighter at Dovercourt for more than 25 years.

Jason joined as an on-call firefighter in 2003 and briefly served with his dad before he became a full time firefighter 18 months later.

He recently came full circle and returned to Dovercourt as station manager.

Jason said: “I worked with my dad as a mechanic and he suggested joining on-call to get some experience. 

“My dad encouraged me to get involved and, as you'd expect, he's always had an interest in my career.”

Dan Davis joined the Essex Fire Service in 2008 in a non-operational role, he joined as an on-call firefighter in 2011 and became a full time firefighter in 2017.

His father, Adrian, was a full time firefighter at Dovercourt for 31 years and retired as station officer, he sadly died two years ago.

Dan said: “The only reason I'm in fire service is because of my dad. I remember watching him run down the garden path to go out on calls.

“It has gone full circle for me. I had already achieved my goal of becoming a firefighter but my dad encouraged me to progress and now I'm watch manager at Dovercourt.

Tom Jewell’s dad Terry was a station manager at Dovercourt, as well as serving in the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team and in the UK International Search and Rescue.

Terry retired earlier this year after 30 years of service but is still involved in a special operations and national liaison capacity.

Tom joined as a wholetime firefighter two years ago and following his father’s footsteps, he is now a USAR reservist.

He said: “I went into teaching initially but joining the fire service was always in the back of my mind so applied when the opportunity came up.

“I even managed to go on some USAR exercises with Dad before he retired, which was really nice."