Charlie Harwood, '100-year-old Fire Hero', Honoured On His Centenary Birthday

From (L to R) Mark Whittall with Charlie Harwood and Tooting Station Manager, John Day

Charlie spent the war years fighting fires in London, attending many of the major blazes and incidents, including those during the Blitz.

100-year-old Charlie Harwood, who served as a fire fighter in Tooting during World War two, visited Tooting fire station recently to celebrate his 100th birthday with fire fighters from the station's green watch.

Charlie was presented with a commemorative fire fighter's axe by green watch's youngest fire fighter, Mark Whittall. Children from the local Henry Cavendish primary school also presented Charlie with a bunch of flowers and excerpts from Charlie's war-time memoirs were read out.

Bill Thorne, green watch manager, said: "It was an absolute honour to invite Charlie to the station. It was a fantastic opportunity for the fire fighters to meet him and hear about his experiences of fire fighting during the war, Charlie is a real life hero."

Charlie, who reached his 100th birthday on March 6th, was born in Vauxhall and spent his early life in Balham. He enlisted with the Auxiliary Fire Service in 1939. On Friday before the war was declared Charlie was asked to report to his local fire station, along with all the other civil defence and fire brigade personnel. He said: "I went home from work, had my tea, said goodbye to my wife and reported to Tooting Fire Station."

Charlie spent the war years fighting fires in London, attending many of the major blazes and incidents, including those during the Blitz. Charlie remembers his first ‘shout' was a huge blaze caused by bombing at Woolwich Arsenal. He said: "I thought i was driving into hell, there was fire everywhere you looked, it was awful. After a while we drove back

Charlie shared his fire fighting experiences with the people gathered at an event

to Tooting. As we looked back towards the docks it looked as if the whole of London, particularly the docks, were on fire."

Charlie recalls a particularly tragic incident during his time as a fire fighter: "We were called to Henry Cavendish school, which was being used as a fire brigade sub-station. On arrival we found 12 firemen and one firewoman had been killed by a bomb falling on their mess hut as they sat to eat. It was our job to retrieve the bodies. I had lived in this area al l my life and knew well a couple of the men who had been killed."

Being a fire fighter during the War was a tough job, Charlie said: "We worked 120 hours a week and our wages were £3 a week."

Charlie with firefighters from Tooting fire station's green watch

Unfortunately, Charlie's eyesight was not of the standard required to remain in the peacetime fire brigade. In 1945 he returned to the building trade, an area he'd worked in prior to joining the brigade. On his fire station visit, Charlie said: "I was surprised and delighted to be invited to be invited back to Tooting Fire Station, it was wonderful. It was good to meet old friends and present day fire fighters and it brought back many memories."

"The gift of the fire fighters axe is very special and is something I had always wanted."

"I don't consider myself a hero. During the war I was just doing my job. I would like to thank all concerned in arranging this special day for me."When asked about the secret of living to 100, Charlie said: "Just being happy."