Spinning Plates with Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Episode 183:

Episode Date: May 25, 2026

Siobhan Priest - or Shiv - appears as @thefiremum on Instagram and I love seeing her posts about her life as a firefighter in the London Fire Brigade.Shiv started her working life as a model and continued in that job when she became a single mum to her daughter, at the age of 24. However she says she was always looking for a helping role in life. Firefighting appealed from an early age but it took many years for her to research it properly and then go for it when her second child, her little boy, was starting school.She loves the routine and stability that her job gives her, and being part of a watch where she has 10 ‘brothers’.Shiv says that every day is different, and putting out a fire is fun, as it’s a hands-on job and they are professional problem-solvers.Shiv is proud of being a firefighter and of influencing other women to follow in her footsteps, and it was an absolute joy to meet someone so excited and fulfilled by their job.Extra info:Home Fire Safety Checker:Get tailored advice for your home or for someone you care for. Our tool allows you to carry out a thorough check of your home in only a few minutes. It’s simple and practical, giving you specific advice for your family and your home. Visit: https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/home-fire-safety-checker/#ChargeSafe campaignOn average there is a fire from a lithium battery in an e-bike or e-scooter every two days in London. Many of these fires are caused by incompatible chargers, modifications to e-bikes, or faulty or counterfeit products which are purchased online. This includes chargers, lithium batteries and conversion kits for e-bikes. For safety tips, check out our campaign webpage: www.london-fire.gov.uk/chargesafeCadetsLondon Fire Brigade Fire Cadets is a free programme for young people aged 13-17, available across all London boroughs. The course gives young people a chance to learn valuable life skills and build their confidence, whilst gaining an insight into careers in the emergency services. https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/community/young-people/fire-cadets/Outreach/RecruitmentIf you are interested in finding out more about jobs/careers at London Fire Brigade, email: [e-mail] to request updates and info on recruitment activities and events. To find out more about Firefighter Siobhan Priest’s typical working day, watch her in London Fire Brigade’s You Tube film - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0ASQfxHIO8Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Claire Jones and post-production by Richard Jones. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, I'm Sophia L'Exta and welcome to Spinning Plates, the podcast where I speak to busy working women who also happen to be mothers about how they make it all work. I'm a singer and I've released eight albums in between having my five sons, age between seven years old and nearly 22, so I spin a few plates myself. Being a mother can be the most amazing thing, but it can also be hard to find time for yourself and your own ambitions. I want to be a little bit nosy and see how other people balance everything. Welcome to Spilling Plates. I hope where I'm speaking to you from isn't going to be too annoying and loud and buzzy because I'm actually on my tour glass and I realize that it's not a very quiet environment. It's like a hum for something.

But anyway, hopefully it's all right. It is day one of two things. Day one of the festivals this summer. So I am at a place called Farm Fest today. It's also day one of the heat wave in the UK. and I'm wondering how many people are already complaining about the weather. We have had really sort of dodgy weather for the last few weeks. You know, it's been quite cold and rainy,

and now we're at the beginning of proper heat. So I think today is around 29, 30 degrees. And guess what, guys? It's a bit hot out there. It's like pretty full on. And this is going to continue for about a week minimum. So let's see. how many people are still loving it at all a couple of days in.

But it is nice to see a blue sky and it's nice to, you know, wear lighter clothes and have your pins out on that kind of thing. I mean, I'll say it would say that I'm taught. I hope your week's been all right. This week, I've had quite a funny one, actually. I have had six flights in seven days. I did a gig in Ibiza. I did a gig in South France.

did a gig in Milan and popped to him from each time I went just because of coming back to London either for work or just to, you know, be my family. And then yesterday, Richard and I went to the Ivan Novellos, which was actually really special. The Ivan Novellos are Songwriters Awards and what I love about them is firstly they're not televised, so they always feel quite warm and relaxed. But secondly, They're really prestigious. Like, if you, for example, 1-120 years ago, like Richard did, it might be something you might casually still bring up in conversation to this day, perhaps. You know, it means something.

They're a beautiful award. Yesterday was incredible for the people that come to be in the room to give eloquent moving speeches and what songwriting means to them. So Harry Stiles, Rosalia, Elton John, Jacob, Lon, Seamatt, Tom York, they were all in attendance and it was really, really special. And honestly, there's so many conversations that people are having and speeches that kind of moved me, made me want to cry. I was trying to think what that is.

Why did it make me want to cry when people were talking about what songwriting meant? And I realise it's because it just resonates so deeply. Like the idea, firstly, of having a voice that you want to put to something and letting that out, that catharsis, but also the absolute magic. that is the alchemy of songwriting and how it can move you and involve people, but it always starts off intimate. So a lot of people, when they got their awards, they'd be very emotional. Kay Tempest and Sam Fender were both clearly very emotional.

And I think it's because it goes to a really intimate place. You know, the song might finish being sung and, you know, hands in the air and tens of thousands of people, whatever. But it starts off. It's generally only a few people, maybe even just one, in a room with an instrument, letting that feeling move through them and it's just a beautiful kind of magic and that was very nice.

Hold on a second. Hello? Oh, he's not here. Sorry about that. I'm back, I'm back. I don't know. Hopefully Richard's turned up by now. That was my tour manager's up looking for Richard

so at the bank and sound check. Where was I? I was talking about me, but I think the time I talk about my guest. If you follow her on Instagram, you know her as the Fire Mum, which is how I first came to know, the woman who, if you know a bit better,

you might call Chavonne Breesd, who's our guest this week. If you're a really good friend with her, you might know her as Shiv. Shiv is someone I started following because she shares her account of being a London firefighter. She works in Lambeth, and she's really open and positive and enthusiastic

about what it is to be a firefighter. But there's more to the story than that, because actually, Shiv came to firefighting only in the last three to four years. She was a successful model for a long time. She has a 16-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old son. And she just had something in her that felt like she was looking for something else and just had an instinct that firefighting might be that thing. And she was 100% right about it. I mean, you're going to hear just how much. being a member of that, Fabricade gives her how much she loves being in what she calls with her

brothers, the other ten chaps that she works with at the fire station, her absolute dedication to the job, how much it makes her feel alive, focused, energized, just, you know, whip smart around the edges with the business of fighting fires. So, as you can imagine, as soon as I was following, Shiv, I thought I have to So interviewed this woman, it's fascinating to me. I'm always interested in people who've absolutely changed the course of their careers. But also, what's it like to do something that has risk, something that's very in the moment, something that's very demanding, something that aspects of the job you might need to compartmentalize from your family life, but also something that is so important, so powerful, where you're actively trying to save people's lives and save buildings and possessions that mean things to be. people. It's, yeah, it's an amazing thing to be able to keep calm in that environment when a fire

is raging and just had the skill set to know what to do. So, Shiv will take us into her world and also maybe give us a few tips of how to keep safe. There's also an unlikely detour conversation takes via last and pre-vestival, very happily. So yeah, there's lots to Chavonne and obviously happily for us, above all, a lot of generosity in what wisdom she's learned. So I leave you with her chat. Well, the band are sound checking and I'm hiding in my tour boss. Oh, see you on the other side. Sure, it's really nice to see you today.

And I said, see you and not meet you because it turns out we've met before. We have met before, yes. In my day job and you're one of your other things you get up to. Yeah, so for the last 11 years, as it is this year, although there's a fallow year. For the last 11 years, I've worked at Glastonbury on the Park Stage as artist liaison. And you came and performed with us in 2024 with Peggy Goo. And you were phenomenal and you had a huge crowd. And we'd love to see it. You're brilliant. So yeah, we have met before. But obviously you were very busy and I was just doing my job.

Yay, yeah. Well, thank you for making it so much fun. I love the park stage. It's my favourite stage at Glassway. And it always has really cool stuff and it's very much got its own vibe. Yeah. You know, people who go to Glastonbury will know. But each, there's lots of people that work at Glastonbury that have been there year upon year upon year. And it becomes very much like a family. Yeah.

And each area's kind of got a slightly different tone depending on who's working there. And I love all that about glassabry. I think that's what's special about Glastonbury, actually. One of the things. That's the vibe we go for at Park is to make it feel like a little family and a home. And yeah, we love it. Well, you've definitely achieved it. And it's funny because, yeah, I did the thing with Peggy Goo where she was doing her headlines.

set. I just popped out to the murder on dance floor. And I said to, I said, check, I did a bit of loose fact checking that then I was like on stage. This is the first ever female DJ to Headline Park. Yeah. I've said it like it's true. I think it is true. Phenomenal, yeah. I mean, I'm not 100% sure, but I will take your word for it. Yeah, me too. That's basically it. You say it, it becomes law. Yeah, that's it. But you had an enormous crowd. So, well-due. Yeah. It's such a high. Oh, it's really good. It's brilliant. Hopefully it'll happen again. And when I was there, I think. I was there, I think. You say, I was there. And when I was there, I saying murder on dance floor, which leads me to feel I should apologise because I realize I've

been carelessly threatening to burn a house down for some time. Oh gosh. Are you here to lecture me about what could happen if I did. You know what? I'm not going to lecture you about anything. I'm not going to. There might be a couple of sort of fire safety things that I'll throw in there, but no. Oh, please.

Well, I'm fascinated. So we're basically speaking because you have come to my attention as the fire mom, you're known, on Instagram. and it's basically documenting your love, passion and relationship with what you now do, which is working for the London Fire Brigade. So how long have you been doing this now? Yeah, so I started as a firefighter with the London Fire Brigade just over three years ago. It was always something that I wanted to do, but it was always a job where I thought,

that's so cool, but so is going to the moon. Like I never thought that I'd actually be able to do it. I just thought it was kind of one of those things that like other people do that are really cool. And I looked into it over the years and I kept going away from it and coming back to it and going away from it and coming back to it. And I think the reason why I did that is because there wasn't the visibility that I'd hoped for. And I don't mean in the sense of like, you know, pictures of female firefighters in advertising campaigns. I mean like the true, you know, social media, real people. I couldn't find what I was looking for when I was looking for it.

So, yeah, it kind of, it took a while for me to actually get there and go for it. And I think as we get older, we kind of realize, oh, stuff it. I'm just going to go for it with a lot of things. And when you've got kids as well and you're preaching to your children, you should do this. You should go for it. Go chase your dreams, blah, blah, blah. And then you're not doing that. It's, you're a hypocrite.

So that's how I ended up just going for it. I was like, sod it. I'm doing it. And I'll see how far I can get. And that's where it all began, really. Well, that's incredibly inspiring. And I think that you're right. It's one of those things where you're encouraging with your kids

exactly what you want to model. But that being said, it's still taking a leap into a bit of the unknown. And I understand from listening to you, you know, I've been listening to conversations you've had before, where you said that part of the reason you've got your presence with your Instagram and your social media is because you wanted to be what you couldn't see and give a little bit of a path to other people

and an insight into the realities of what you do. And actually also to touch on it, you mentioned about not seeing many female firefighters, but actually, I don't know the current stats, but the ones I could find online were from, I think, 2023, where it said 8.7% of operational firefighters are women. Yeah, so nationally it's 8%. In the LFB, we've got 10%

because we've got a lot more firefighters than any other brigade in the UK. So, yeah, nationally it's 8%, which if you look at London, if we've say got 5,000 firefighters, and 10% of that is 500, it's minimal, it's minimal. So, yeah, like, it is difficult to see us out there. And it is quite funny because when people do see us, they kind of go, oh, it's a girl one. You're like, hey, that's right. But yeah, going to the social media stuff, I, yeah, I scoured the internet.

When I knew that I was going to start training school, I scoured the internet and I was like, right, I need to find answers. I need to look for people who can answer my questions. What kind of questions did you have at that point then? I wanted to know how the shifts worked with having kids. I wanted to know what it would be like for a woman in the fire service, like genuinely what it would be like. what it would be like. I wanted to know how I would cope with the things

that I was going to see. I wanted to know, I wanted to see if there was someone relatable. I had just so many things to ask but mainly, you know, the shift work and kids. And how are, so I'm trying to think, to your daughter, she's 16 now, is she? So she'll be 16 soon, yeah.

Right. So then she would have been, yeah, just approaching her teenage years, right? Yeah. And your son, he's younger? Yes. He's eight now. So then he would have been about five. Yeah.

So it's still little at the time when you're thinking all of this. Yeah, that's it. I think as well, that was probably one of the things that made me go for it as well. Because he was starting school, post-COVID, he was starting school. And I was like, right, if not now, when? I've just got to do it. So what was the first step then for you in terms of that starting on that journey? So my mindset was, I'm just going to see how far I can go with it.

And that's that. I'm not putting pressure on myself. Yeah, no pressure on yourself exactly. Yeah. So with the London Fire Brigade, we have like an outreach process that you do before you get given an application form. And that's a series of things that you do to give you as much information about the job as possible. So you can figure out and they can figure out if you're right for the job and if the job's for you. So that was the starting block really.

And yeah, it all started with like an online team's meeting and then like experience days and things like that. And that's something that we still run now, which I think is great. So that's part of the ongoing outreach for them, is it, for recruitment? Yeah. And so was it a bit of stars colliding in some of the, you'd always thought that looked amazing? And then you also saw something was, there was an, and you drive for recruits? Or were you actually actively like, I'm going to see what they're doing around here that will work for me? Yeah, I kind of, I just kind of like actively went for it.

I was like, I'm going to see how far I can get with the job. And I kind of knew one or two people that were firefighters, but not super well. So I could ask them questions, but they were men, you know, they weren't women and they didn't have children. And it's not quite the same, you know, I wanted to like ask a mom. Yeah. What's it like? And, you know, I'm not the only girl in the brigade that has got children. We've got so many women that have children in the brigade now, which is brilliant.

You know, what a great example for us to set to our kids in the future. But yeah, I just kind of actively went for it and thought, just go for it. Just do it. Well, maybe we can work through the questions you had and then the answers you found for people out there thinking along the same lines. So you said about the shift work and how that would work with raising a family. So what's the answer to that at the moment? I couldn't imagine not working shifts anymore. It's been absolutely fantastic.

Like, I work two days, two nights and then have four off. And, you know, the two night shifts, I can be, I can come home, I can have asleep, I can still. do the school run and then I can spend the early evening with the kids and then go off to work and it works so well and then having four days off all together it's just it feels like you have a proper break not that not that you know I need the proper break like I can have like a proper break and a rest from work and I can take the kids away for the weekend if it falls on the weekend it sounds like you can make plans yeah and you can regulate your time a little bit because I'd imagine the nights and the days take a lot of your focus and energy.

Yeah. And I suppose with the family, and we'll talk about it more, but when you had your babies, that was in your modelling career days. And actually, there's a lot of uncertainty that can surround that line of work. Yes. But now it sounds like things maybe are actually much more sort of predictable within that. I mean, putting aside the emotional demands,

but the actual weekly what your family expects, you know, when they will see you when they were, that kind of thing. Yeah, definitely. It's actually a lot more manageable in some ways. Absolutely. Like, I started modelling when I was 16. I got scouted and I had a great career. I'm not knocking it.

I had brilliant, brilliant time modelling. I went around the world. I met some incredible people, worked for some amazing brands, aren't good money. But I had my daughter when I was 24. And I think it worked well in the sense that obviously being. self-employed, you can manage your own time, your own diary and stuff. But I did crave a bit of stability. And I think that's why coming into the fire service and having that routine and stability later on in my life has just worked so well because it is the opposite of what I was doing before.

And I just really needed it. Yeah. And having that predictability, like you say, with the kids, it does work well for them as well as me. And with just for your picturing your sort of working week, when you're doing your shifts, are you with the same group of people? Yeah, so we call them watches. And the reason why we call them watches is because back in the day, fire stations had watch towers. A few of them in London are still there in the real historic stations. Had watch towers where a firefighter would sit and keep watch over that area.

It was a really tall part of the building, and they would look out for smoke. And then they would shout down to the other firefighters. you know, that there was an incident. And that's why we call incidents shouts. And we call our crew a watch. So my watch that I've got at work, I work with them all the time. We're always together on that four on. And they become like your family.

And, you know, on my watch, there's 11 of us. So I've got these 10 brothers and me. And it's absolutely brilliantly wild. We have a great time. And we work together very well. We see things that, you know, you wouldn't really wish anyone to see, but we cope with it together and we work through it together. And that is the beauty of one of the things in the fire service. Yeah, well, I suppose that's one of the questions you had before you started the job, was wondering how you would cope with what you come into contact with through your work.

Yeah, I mean, officially we have a lot of resources available to us. We've got counselling and trauma services with the London Fire Brigade. There's lots of charities as well, like the firefighters charity. They supply like free counselling services as well. There's loads and loads of official support that we've got, that we can access that's fab. But what works for me and a lot of other firefighters the most is just talking with your watch and just decompressing over what you've seen.

And you know what? Like different things affect different people. like some of, you know, some people that I work with might not be affected by seeing something as much as what I would. I'm trying to think of an example, one being one of my colleagues is really affected if he sees anything to do with animals. You know, if there's like a dog or a cat involved in an incident, that really affects him. And like, it might not affect me as much. But if I was, you know, if I have to deal with children in any way, it might affect me a little bit more. And so we kind of work together like that.

We know each other's triggers. and we, you know, we're very aware of that. So, yeah, working with your watches. Yeah, and I guess learning about yourself, what it is that, as you say, becomes the bits that stay with you for longer. Yeah, absolutely. I feel like I've learned a lot about myself and what I can cope with. And you know what?

I feel like I'm really proud of myself and I've really surprised myself with what I can experience and how I can deal with things. because you never know until you see something or you're dealing with something, how are you going to deal with it? Yeah. And I think that is the beauty as well of coming into the job a little bit later in life

is we do have that life experience that we can go, okay, I need to check in with myself. I'm not feeling great. You know, you can, like, you know your emotions better. You know yourself better. That's very true, actually. And I think, actually, make me think the people that are in your watch,

your 10 brothers, A lot of them, people who've been doing it for a very long time, how was it for you when you were the new person? We've actually got a fairly young watch, which means that there's not any, well, there's a couple of people that have got like quite a lot of experience and they're our officers, they're in charge of the watch. And then everybody else has kind of got a range from like 10 years experience and below.

That's fairly young for the fire brigade. You know, normally it's like a real mix of anything from, you know, zero to 30 years experience. But yeah, they've really helped me because they've seen things already that I haven't seen and they've dealt with things and they know what my triggers are as well.

So, yeah, we do just work together as much as possible. It does sound like you have to have that, yeah, the sort of, what would you call it, the structure in place to really support each other and keep an eye on another. Yeah, absolutely. And I'm thinking, that I was talking about actually with my kids on the way to school this morning about what you do

and what I would find the hardest thing. And I think for me as well it's the idea. And I'm, you calling it a watch actually is a really great way of me framing it because I've realized that there's lots of jobs maybe where you have to be just ready for the signal that it's time to go. So anyone who's involved in observation and making sure everything's safe, and then noticing at the moment danger starts. But in yourself, when you're responding to an emergency, so you're trying to picture how you regulate your adrenaline and your focus, was that something you already had an aptitude for,

or is that something that has surprised you about yourself, or is it just something that when you're in the setting and in the uniform and you've checked your kit and you've done all the checks and everything is primed, it kind of all kicks in? Yeah, I think a lot of that kind of, of, yeah, those adrenaline kicks that you get, you really get those at the start of the job when you first start going, you know, to incidents. And even now, like if we go to something that's particularly traumatic, you can, like, I personally can feel my heart pumping and the adrenaline going. Or if we go into an incident and I'm driving the truck, you know, you've got a million things going around in your head. Like, where's the hydrant for the water supply? You know, what is the layout of that building? Are there people in a side of that building. And you're driving at the same time and you're overtaking traffic on the

wrong side of the road and you're going through red lights and you know, you're using all of your training all in one go. And it does feel like a spin out sometimes. But you just get used to it as well. Like it seems wild to say that, but you do. You're kind of, you know, certain incidents that come through. You're like, right, okay, I've got my, I've been trained exceptionally well by the LFB. I have now got three years of experience that if we're going to a road traffic collision, I know exactly what I've got to do when I get there. It might be slightly different, you know, in whatever way to the previous RTC road traffic collision, but I know what I've got to do. And it's, it almost feels a bit sad saying that you get desensitized to stuff, but we do. And it's just, you know, that's, yeah,

that's the truth behind it. Yeah. And I think also you've really some, when you say experience and knowing what you have to do. So I think it's, I think that's actually, I find that reassuring. I don't find that unnerving. I think that's reassuring because, you know, I'm sure everybody's got their version of some sort of trauma they've been involved in like that where you do rely on the people, the first responders. And my goodness, it's, you don't, you don't need the peripheral to be cloudy. You want people who come with a clear presence of mind who are calm, efficient, experienced. Yeah.

And just with a really clear objective of how it works, because at that point, you, you as the person involved in it have got to point where you know you need help and you've reached your limits. Yeah. But I am thinking that it's funny because you're smiling when you're telling me and I'm thinking, this sounds great. And then I'm saying, oh no, this is really dangerous.

And you're also dealing with people where they are, they are in a situation that is completely for them, they've been going about their day. And this is the drop in the middle of the concentric circle. And you know that for them, this is the moment which was there or there was a life before and a life after, but you're there in that moment. And how did you know that it was firefighting that was that? Because you can find elements of that elsewhere, I guess. But what is it about your job that made that the thing?

I had a real yearning to do a job where I wanted to help people. So even when I was modelling, I used to volunteer for various different charities. And I, you know, I always did things on the side where it was always like helping roles. And the penny didn't really drop with me that that's what I was doing until I became a firefighter. And then I was like, this is it. This is what I was looking for. I was looking for a helping role where I was at the absolute. like point of depth, you know, in awfulness for some people, which sounds wild, right?

For you, you're probably thinking, why would you want to do that? I don't know. I can understand. I don't know if I feel like I could be that helpful in that situation, but I'm so grateful for people like you having that, that yearning, but also understanding that they're capable of really actually actively helping. Yeah. Yeah, just, I don't know. I guess you call it purpose, right? Yeah, that's it. Yeah, fulfilled. I feel fulfilled in my role. I feel like this is what I was always supposed to do. And I know it's cheesy, but you know when you meet those people and they're like,

oh, find a job you love and you'll never work a day and you're like, I feel like that. And it's crazy to think because, you know, we kind of, we don't get paid loads and loads and loads of money even though like our wages are good. But, you know, and the stuff that we experience is awful and we could end up with PTSD and things like this. But I just still feel like this is what I was supposed to do. Yeah, I can see that. It's kind of radiating off you a lot of actually. I think so. I think so.

And also I just think that when you were describing, driving the truck and having all those thoughts and also trying to assess preemptively what you're going to need when you get there, but also navigating the roads as you do it, I was thinking there must be a privilege and feeling so much of your brain stimulated and engaged. Yes. Because when we're talking about. about so many things that are valuable. A lot of it is about being so in the moment and so present,

but also if you've got all these parts of yourself that matter to you and they feel like they're dormant, I mean, I think saying you were yearning for it is a really, it's a lovely big word to use actually. Yeah. Because a lot of people maybe don't have that feeling of like that desire, but also acting on it. Yeah.

And I'm also, I was thinking to myself, we could, in another version of this story, I'm sitting opposite you and you're telling me about, how you spent 20 years in the fire service and now you spent three years modeling because actually it could have been like that that's where you found that well but maybe we can scroll back to the beginning so you mentioned you had your daughter when you were 24 so what was going on in your professional how long you've been so you said you was modeling from 16 so this had been something you've done for quite well straight out of school yeah straight out of school I did go to

university I stood in music and I had a great time but I always modeled whilst I was doing that and then when I left uni, I had all the intentions of getting a proper job in inverted commas, as my dad, my dad put it. And then I just ended up modelling because it was good money. I was flying around the world. I was having a great time. And so, yeah, I kind of got caught in that. And then I became a mom to my daughter.

I was a single mom when I was 24. And then I moved to London with her when she was a baby and met my now husband when she was about two. And so, yeah, I kind of had like, had a bit of a rough ride in my mid-20s navigating life, being single with a baby and still trying to support her and model and do all of these things. But again, I feel like that in my life has just given me a greater appreciation for things as I've got older and a better empathy and understanding for other people. and again, you know, that reflects in the job that I do and the way that I try and treat people now.

Yeah, and also how you, I don't know, when I was 24, just before I started going up with my husband, I had just come out of quite a long relationship and I thought that had already screwed up my life a bit. I was like, well, that's, I've got it wrong already. And isn't it wild that we can sit here now and reflect an all. all the, all the what happens next in the story.

It is. But at the time you just feel like you've kind of done all this stuff and it hasn't amounted to what you expected it to. Oh yeah. If you'd have told me when I was 25 just after having my daughter that I'd be sat here with you talking about being a firefighter and influencing women, you know, now, I would have thought you were crazy.

Like, there's no way I would believe it. You know, I was on the verge of a breakdown. I was so unwell, like after having her, it's such a hard time. But, you know, as women, we are strong characters and we rise, don't we? We do. But it's a nice idea, I guess, to know that you can reach back and be actually turned out better than you thought. But that sounds like it was a lot on your shoulders at the time.

So I'm sorry, that's a really difficult way to be a new mum, I think, feeling isolated and worried about how to keep things rolling. Yeah. I mean, and also, that's a lot, isn't it? to look back on for you now, I think. Oh yeah, absolutely. But like I say, it gives me a greater appreciation, I think, for how well things have gone, you know. And yeah, life is good.

So did you keep modelling? Yeah, obviously kept modelling after you had her and... Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, carried on. She's, you know, she's done bits with me as well, commercial shoots, family things like that. And, yeah, I mean, even... I've done a little bit... I've still done bits of modelling stuff like QVC.

I did a lot of since I joined the fire brigade as well. But my time for that is kind of narrowing because my time for the fire service that I'm giving to the fire service is becoming greater and greater. How was it for you with, did you worry about your career with modelling when you became a mum? Yeah, I did actually. Yeah, I did. But because I was so young, I kind of could pull it back. you know it's it's almost like that people couldn't tell that I was a mom and that's you know it's a

terrible thing to say I listened to your podcast with Ashley James and she was saying something and I was so profound when she was saying oh you know people say oh I'm a two mumsie and you know why is that a bad thing and it made me think like that's exactly what I was like when I had Jessie and my daughter's called Jessie and and I was worried about oh what about it from two mumsy now and I don't fit into the categories that I need to fit in. into like, that's a terrible thing now. Yeah. You know, as a 40-year-old woman,

I now look back and think, it's awful. Yeah, and I think we're still evolving how we think of motherhood and what it can. It's definitely a lot better now than my, so you just met my big boy. So I was, yeah, I had him the same month I turned 25. Yeah, well. And at the time, 2004, I didn't see as many incredible role models for how. how to be a new mum and also retain some sort of identity that was not inherently,

I don't mean this disparagingly, or dismissively, but not always through the gaze of and you're a mum. Yeah. And I think for, in my late 20s, I felt like it was regarded as a very frumpy accessory. That's exactly it. Yeah. Which I think is such a shame. And I do think we've got better with that.

Yeah, I do as well. I completely agree. And all the good stuff that can come with the transition. and how many adventures you can still have post that time. But I think, you know, you're discombobulated, you're getting your brain back in order and who am I and what matters to me and how do I feel doing this version of myself and that version, now that I also have this new person I'm responsible for, but also culturally people telling you, oh, I hope you weren't expecting to go back into that

because that doesn't quite fit you in the way it did. Oh, culturally, I feel like even though it's got better, you know, when I was going to join the fire service, my parents were like, oh what about the kids oh you know and you know we're kind of I feel like saying you're going to ask my husband about his career and what about the kids no it's just you know but it is the way it is I guess it's the way it has been for a long time and it is it is changing slowly and our children are becoming you know they're they're changing that narrative you know like my daughter now she's you know she will quite proudly say I'm not sure that I want to have children actually and I'm like

yeah cool like whereas you know when we were younger it was It's just kind of the like when you grow up and you're a mum and it's just, you know, like we just... That's very true. That's very true. And I guess also in a nice full circle, part of what you said was your motivation for what you now do are exactly the life lessons you're passing down to your daughter and your son about all the things, all the options they have and what they could expect for their wild lives. And you thought, well, how can I hope that they understand that from me if I'm not, aren't. answering what's in me. Yeah, that's it. Absolutely. And you know what? Like sometimes I have to be very careful what I, how much I disclose to my children about exactly what I do. So I will water down the

things, especially with my eight year old. I'm not going to say to him, you know, oh yeah, I've been to this incident with this. But with my daughter, I'm very real with it. You know, I will obviously within reason, I'll say to her, we've been to this incident and, you know, explain to her, like, and hopefully get her to understand how lucky she is in the setup that she's got. And, you know, we're very privileged to live in a home that's safe and warm and, you know, and nothing tragic. Touchwood has happened. And, you know, it's just kind of instilling that knowledge and, like, respect for how fragile life is with the kids. So, yeah, I hope that I'm doing that.

I'm sure you are. Yeah. But how do you deal with that? when you're seeing things sort of turn on a moment. Actually, let me reframe that. How did you know you were someone that was able to be calm in a crisis? Because I think that's a wonderful quality to have. But had you been introduced to situations over the years

where you just could see that you were able to think quite clearly? I think so, yeah. It's funny because my friends and my family always used to say to me, oh you're really good in like difficult situations but it never really clicks I didn't really kind of think oh yeah you know because maybe that's just not having the kind of deep confidence in myself but yeah I was always told you know my by my family and friends like oh she you'll be great in a in a crisis or whatever and yeah I guess I guess I am it's a great quality and it's always good when you've got a friend like that as well yeah yeah yes you just keep those people around

like a great, great, the party, over to you. Over to you. That's it. At Glastonbury, when there's a crisis, it's Shiv. No, no, I'm joking, not really. Oh, no, don't. You're joking now, but honestly, if I'm over there and I need someone, I'm coming to the park stage. Yeah, that's it.

You're like, she's not on the last, she's not coming to back stage. Oh, gosh, yeah. That's brilliant. What are your favourite things about what you do? My favourite things about what I do, there's so many. I love the fact that every day is different. Every single day is different. It doesn't matter even if we go to a fire that day and a fire the next day.

They're going to be two different types of fires. I love the fact that it is so like it's fun. My job is fun. I know that sounds sick because we are going to people's worst days of their lives. But putting a fire out is so much fun. Like we're trained to do the job. We go in wearing breathing apparatus. PPE, we know what we're doing, and it's actually quite fun doing that, which is, it probably

sounds a bit ridiculous. I don't think it does, because also I've watched your day in the life, and I know that, of course, sometimes it's deeply harrowing, but there's a lot of it which is about problem solving and helping people, and not every call out has got that level of trauma and desperation. Sometimes it's things where you can just be really a full. and effective with the things you've been, the tools you've been given to problem solve. Oh yeah, absolutely. And you're working collaboratively and you guys must be amazing at how you communicate with one

another and all of the shorthand to get it sorted as quickly as possible. And I think that's incredibly satisfying. And I think there's something quite, there is something pleasing and fun about that it's been given a bit of a riddle. I know how to do this. If you do that and that and that, everything dials down and it goes back. to calm. Yeah, that's it. We say that we're professional problem solvers because that's exactly what we do and it's fun. Like, yeah, we get to use our brains and it's hands on. I love that.

I love the fact that the people that I work with are beautiful people and we have a good time together and yeah, I work the shifts. So I see my kids and there's just so many things that I love about it. And am I right that your daughter, Jessie, is now involved in a sort of youth program? So she's, yes, she's in the fire cadets. So fire cadets is like, it's a national thing. It's not just London. And it's a free, which I think is amazing. It's a free program that kids between 13 and 18 can do.

And you basically go once a week to a designated fire station, your local fire station, that runs fire cadets. And we basically will do drills with them where we teach them how to use ladders and how to use hose and how to use the fire engine. and we do mini versions of what we actually do at work. That's so good. It's so good. I have to simply do it at my local place. That sounds amazing. Honestly, it's brilliant.

It's confidence building. The kids that we get are children from different backgrounds and they all come together and they work together really well. They get that problem solving element. They get, you know, new friends. We get to take them on trips where otherwise they wouldn't be exposed to it in the outside world. to take them on the fireboat. Oh, we just do so much stuff with them.

It's brilliant. They get so many opportunities and it's free, which is great. So if they sign up to the fire cadets, are they going every weekend for a certain amount of time? So it will be during the week, so it'll be one evening in a week. So say like Tuesday, 6 to 8.30 and it will run term time, get half terms off and things like that. And yeah, we'll teach them first aid. So they'll have like CPR knowledge, which I think is. Why don't they make this a bit more of a compulsory thing?

for kids just to get it as a tester, trial. I just think it's fantastic. It could be that every kid has, you know, I don't know, a list of certain aspects of the emergency services that you do a six-week taster course in, and then you see if you want to take any further. Because also that would give everybody that would equip them to not panic in situations,

but to have something in their armory that will possibly even save lives. Well, that's it. We do a lot of fire safety stuff with the cadet. as well, teaching them fire escape plans, teaching them what to do if they were to see or be involved in a fire. And not just things like that, but exactly what you say, like how to remain calm in certain situations. And I didn't get that exposure as a kid. I wouldn't have had a clue what to do. So teaching that to these teens and watching them growing confidence and put into practice what we're teaching them is brilliant. That's so brilliant because finding yourself in a situation where

you'd need the fire brigades is something that any of us could encounter at any time. So actually having a bit of that. I think we have a better relationship with first aid. But if we can incorporate some fire safety, that would be brilliant, wouldn't it? Yeah, yeah. That's so good to know. Honestly, I'm definitely going to look that up. And I was thinking actually when you talk about the dangers associated with what you do,

how did your family, I mean, I'm sure you're maybe like your parents, How are they feeling about the idea that you were about to do something that's potentially dangerous? They weren't keen. I will be honest. My mom was like, understandable. They were like, what are you doing? And from their point of view, did it kind of come out of nowhere a little bit? Or was there definitely conversations?

They knew that I'd mentioned it. Yeah. Like, they knew that I'd spoken to them about it when I was like 20 and it was a no from them. Oh, so quite a long time before. Yeah. Yeah, because I always thought that's so cool. Oh, so this really had been. on in your mind's eye for quite a while.

Yeah. But I think my mum and dad were actually more concerned about me getting PTSD or it traumatising me, which is understandable because I even think now like, oh my gosh, would I want my children to see the things that I've seen? But I think it really is about, like we said already, just knowing what coping strategies you've got and what access you've got to counselling and stuff. But yeah, it's understandable that they had concerns.

They were like, what are you doing? Now they're very proud, by the way. They're all up for it. Oh, no, I'm sure. And I think it's, look, anyone who has worried about what their loved one is in situations, it's an understandable thing. You are going to emergency situations where, you know, they are the next level up. Yeah.

So I think it all comes from a place of just wanting to protect people who care about. Yeah. But it also means that I suppose your social media presence is also. so a way of showing everybody around you, including yourself, how far you've come, having transparency about what you're really doing, what your day to day looks like. I really enjoyed your day in the life actually because I could see how satisfyingly busy the day is and the camaraderie and how much smiling there was and amongst all of the checking, the need to do your fitness every day, the call-outs you're getting.

How typically are you getting to a situation where it actually is a fire that you're headed to? So I might be wrong with these figures, but I think that the percentage of fires that we go to out of all incident is something like 8%. So it's tiny. But it also depends on which station you're at. So the station that I'm at is Lambeth. It's right in the middle of town. Like when the doors open, we've got Westminster. It's one of the busiest stations in not only London Fire Brigade,

but the whole of the UK. Wow. And yeah, so we probably get more fires than, obviously, stations that are a bit further out that don't have as many incidents full stop. But, yeah, I mean, even like we go to so many different types of incidents. There's things that people don't even realize that we attend, that we go to. And because we're on the river as well, I don't know if you saw we're on Albert Embankment. So we've got the fireboats as well.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've actually seen that, yeah. Yeah, we're often like attending incidents where, you know, there's people in the river and things like that. And, you know, when I talk to people about the incidents that we go to, they're always like, oh, you do that. And yeah, we go to cats in trees and things like that, which is wild. I thought that was a joke. Well, it occurred to me to ask if you've ever rescued a cat in a tree and I thought that's probably like a really annoying question. No, I have.

I have. As soon as you brought it up. I think I've had about two or three cat rescues in the last few years. I've had one where there's a cat stuck behind a radiator and it was genuinely stuck it. slipped off the window and got lodged with my radiator. Oh no.

So we had to cut the radiator off the wall and release it and it was fine. And we did have one where there was a cat stuck in a tree but more often than not

you pitch the ladder to go and get it and it just runs off. It's like a comedy sketch. But yeah, there's this sort of instance we go to like some of them are really gross

like people putting things on their bodies that you just don't want to know about and we have to assist in removing them. Oh no. The main goreys. Mainly men.

And yeah, It's, there's some absolutely wild and wonderful things, but this is why I love it because, you know, it's no day is the same. And then the spin out, you know, the difference of my life. Like, you know, I can be at an incident doing something. And then two or three hours later, I'll be sat in my son's primary school watching the nativity play after a night shift thinking, what on earth is going on? What is my life? You know, a few hours ago I was dealing with this wild incident and now I'm here watching, you know, Mary and Joseph on the stage. Yeah, those juxtapositions sneak up on you, don't they? And it's amazing how your brain can go from one place to another. And you have to like keep one down low and then amplify and diminish and amplify and diminish depending on which environment you're in. But I think as moms, we just do that. Like we do so many different ways, don't we?

We just like exactly like your podcast, we're spinning plates constantly, you know, got one thing going on here and one thing going on there. we just get on with it. Yeah. And now that you are doing what you do, is there something you think will be what you continue to do until you can't? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, look, the job is very physical.

So I don't know up until what point I'll be able to like stay on the operational side of things. I hope for a very, very, very long time because I love it. But there's so many different avenues that I can go down, which again, I didn't realize and before I joined the brigade. so I could go through the ranks and become an officer if I wanted to, or there's lots of other avenues. I've just trained to be on the fireboat, so I can do it be a fireboat reservist.

I would love to do USAR, which is Urban Search and Rescue. You can take that internationally. Like, there's just so many different pathways that you can go down in the fire service that I'll see what happens with, you know, life and where it leads me. And I guess it sounds like also, you've got a bit of a drive to keep the visibility about the options for other potentially women and who are also raising a family so they can see where it can be compatible. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I will endeavour to continue.

I mean, having that social media account, you know, sometimes people will message me and they'll be like, Shavon, can you answer this question, answer that question? I'm like, yeah, in a minute, like, you know, I'm juggling my kids and my family and I'm like, And, you know, it's, I want to keep that there because I feel like I started that as a bit of a diary for myself. And then it became really helpful for other people wanting to join the fire service, not just women. I get loads of guys message me on there with questions about certain things and I'll do Q&As and it helps people. But I think visibility, yeah, in a real world way, not just the advertising, you know, in a real world way, needs to stay there and grow. Yeah, yeah. And actually from that, hopefully there will be a bit more representation than things as well.

I wonder what it was when you were 20 that made you start thinking about it. Yeah. Was there something that was like a trigger, do you think? I remember I had one of my really good friends, her husband was a firefighter. And he, I remember asking him questions about it because, you know, I'm quite inquisitive like that. Oh, tell me this, tell me that. What's this? What's that? Asking all the questions that now when people ask me, I'm like, like, oh, do you really want the answer to that? And he, I don't know, I think he just like planted the seed for me of that sounds really cool.

But yeah, I think it just simmered. The idea just simmered in the back of my head. Yeah. And not having that visibility. I think had there been an account like mine years ago, I would have joined the fire service sooner because I would have had access to what I needed to. to know and see. Yeah, because I suppose that we're sitting here now with you, you know, so, so happy to be talking about how well it's worked out for you. But yeah, it's worth remembering that if we were talking four years ago, you were still in the, so many unknowns. Yeah. And I guess

with a young family, it's a lot to ask them to bear with you while you start a new endeavor. Oh, absolutely. Like, my husband's been phenomenal. Like, he is. so unbelievably encouraging and supportive, you know, with all of the crazy things that I'm like, I'm going to join the fire service. And he's like, what? Okay. You know, it's like, do we still get the tickets to Glass? Yeah. He is. Please tell me your people going with a glass to Brayette's laser. That's exactly it. That's exactly it. Just say where my mind would go. Yeah, cool. But, but yeah. Can we keep for the festival stuff? That's exactly it. That's it. Yeah. But yeah, he's always just being like really supportive of, you know, any kind of wild and wonderful ideas.

And my kids, you know, my little boy, he's a character because when I said I was joining the fire service and becoming a firefighter, he's just like, what? What are you doing? You know, whereas my daughter's like, go, mama. He's just like, yeah, whatever. But yeah, they've all had to adapt to this new, you know, this new mama and this new way. that we've had to just, you know, organise things after school clubs for the little one, you know, and knowing that sometimes I won't actually be back at 9pm when my shift finishes at 8pm because, well, I will be stuck on an incident.

And it's an adaptation for us all, you know, but it's the pros outweigh the cons. Yeah. In that way. I'm guessing as well within the modelling world, I know you were doing that. I mean, was it 20 years you said you were modelling for? That is an incredibly successful modeling career. I mean, people don't usually have such long legs. That's a bad.

That's a bad story. It's always such long roots. I milked it. I milked it. And long legs, obviously, is part of the job. But there's not usually such an extraordinary time spent doing it. Yeah. But was that something that you were already thinking the life after?

Yeah. To be honest, and my husband reminds me of this now, I was done with modelling way before I stopped modelling. I was done with it. I wanted stability. I wanted something more exciting. And like I said, I don't want to diss the modeling career. But I just did not feel fulfilled.

I would go, oh, I've got to go to work. Or, you know, yeah, it was all right. Yeah. I just didn't. Yeah, I mean, I would say, and we've, I've had quite a few conversations with people where that's part of their world or was part of what they've done. And I think it's an, it offers some amazing opportunities.

and is often a great way to experience the world. I think it can lead to quite a lot of fast forward. You quite often find yourself with independence at very young age. Yeah. Traveling, rubbing alongside, you know, people you'd regard at the time as proper grown-ups when you're in your teens and early 20s. And obviously it can give you amazing, you know, you can get paid very well quite quickly when you're young.

But on the flip of it, I think it can be quite lonely. Yeah. And as someone who has only got a few months of experience from when I was in my late teens doing it, I found that I lacked much agency in my fate. Yeah. You know, you would turn up and very much be, for want to have a bit of a prop.

Yeah. Yeah. And I felt like it wasn't stimulating much of my grey matter, I wouldn't say. Yeah. Often I would turn up and just be like, oh my gosh, you know, like, I don't really want to be here, but I'm getting paid really, really, really well. My mom would be like, because I'd say to my mom afterwards, oh, yeah, it was all right. She'd be like, oh, she's born, like, you know, come on, you're getting paid loads.

And I'll be, I know, I know, I know, I'm grateful for it. Yeah, I just need my brain. Yeah, and that's not to say there's also not ways to stimulate that. I think of it, you know, if you find the creative aspect of it stimulating and you've got ideas, if you've got, you know, ideas for creative things, creatively ways to do it. There's some people who really end up completely finding their own space within it. But I think if it's not, if it's not doing that for you, then you do feel a bit like, yeah, I really want to talk about something else or just be involved a little bit more in what's going on here.

Yeah. And that's the bit I found a bit. Yeah. It is lonely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

Yeah. It does feel. Yeah. So I think it's amazing. But what other things did you have? in your mind's aisle, was it just that this was where you felt like you were headed? I didn't feel like I was headed here at all, no, because like I said, it was, it really was something just post-COVID where I was like, right, go for it. I don't really know where I was

headed, to be honest. I felt I did feel a bit lost. That sounds a bit, you know, like get the violins out, but I did. You know, I just had my little boy in 2017 and then obviously you just kind of get stuck in the in a rut being a parent sometimes and I haven't got family nearby as you can tell for my accent I'm from the midlands but I've lived in London a long time and my husband's Australian so we haven't got any family nearby like no one so I was kind of just like going through the motions day to day you know with the kids and then COVID struck and yeah it was I didn't really have like any idea of where I was going maybe in some ways that helped though because it was like I might as well I've got to just see what happens if I do this.

And it sounds like when you did start the recruitment process, all you found was people with like open arms, go, yes, come here, come closer. We really do need people like you. And I imagine for the watch you found yourself in, what you bring with your enthusiasm and your passion is for other people around you, it engages them too.

Yeah, I think it's quite funny because sometimes like the boys are watching can be like, Shiv, just calm down a little bit. it like because I'm like I've got this great idea let's do this let's do that and yeah I mean it's it does I hope it encourages other people I think having my insta has done that because of the people like oh she I've seen you've done this event oh can I get involved next time or you know how did you get involved in that and I'd really like to do it and I love that like and there is there is this thing that it's kind of like a saying within within our brigade and it's like it's not not really a

saying that's probably not the right thing to, not the right term, but anyone that works in a central London station, right, generally has to pass three, four, five fire stations on their way to that station because not many firefighters will live in central London, obviously, for the obvious reasons, it's too expensive. And so there's got to be a reason why you choose that station in the heart of London that's going to be busiest rather than the one that's closer to your home. And it's because you're keen and you want to be there. And so really a lot of the people that are on my watch that I work with at my station all have the same sort of mindset as me.

And that's lovely. That is. And actually you mentioned before about where some of the terms come from and the historical aspect. And imagine you do feel part of something that's got real history as well. Yeah, I love that. A lot of our, I'm a bit of a geek when it comesite buildings because my dad's an architect. I think I've kind of had that instilled in me. history in the fire service is awesome we've got really old fire stations really old buildings

loads of history at the station that I work at we've got the memorial site there which is beautiful and yeah that is something I love I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to history and especially like relating it to the fire service now well yeah and I was thinking about the fact you know and if you're at a primary school in London when you get to year two it's all about great fire of London, you know, it's like it's part of what gets taught and it's part of the city's history. Yeah, absolutely. It's been defining. Yeah. So I think that's really powerful. Do you know, this is probably, it might be, I don't know, but when women did start working within, like, as operational firefighters. Yeah, I think it was 1980. So the first female firefighter was

1960 something. Okay. And that's really bad. I should know that. But my memory. No, no, no. That's good. That's way. But that wasn't in London. I'm pretty sure that was in, Norfolk. Okay. I'm pretty sure. But the first female firefighter in London was Sue Batten and it was 1980 something. Wow. I should know that.

Well, no, that's really, that's way more information as it's expecting and also really recent. Yeah. It is recent. But part of me is like, I was born in 85, so I was, what, 40 years ago. I'm kind of, I kind of wish that, you know, there was even more women. like between now and then that have joined the brigade it's still only 10%. I'm like, how we only got 10% in 40 years?

Well, I think for a lot of women... I think it was 82 that suit the subat. Okay. I mean, I'm trying to think what would be... What would... What might be a discourage? I do think for some women, the idea of being part of a big group

and everybody else is a man, is quite, can be quite intimidating. I do agree. That kind of happened to me by default with my, when I first started singing in a band, I went on tour and I was the only girl on the tour. And at that point, I'd just come out of an all-girl school. I was just, it took me while to make eye contact with people, I think.

Yeah. But through that experience is how I got to spend loads of time with lots of men and then got much better at it. Yeah. But I think if you're looking for a career path, that might be something that you don't know. I mean, before we started recording, you were saying you've just come back from a stag weekend. So we do know that there's ways to have gorgeous relationships with all the people, your colleagues.

Yeah. But even if it does set you to buttlen sometimes. Yeah. In fancy dress. But I think that might be one element. And maybe the idea of having to be physically as capable, maybe. Yes, I agree. It can feel dawn.

the thought of going into a male-dominated role, because like you, I studied music at uni. I was one of two or three girls on the course, and it was mainly boys. So I've not got any issues with being in male-dominated areas, but with a job like this where in my mind, in my, like I was, you know, had the impression in my head, oh, there's all these like big strapping lads, you know,

I've got to fit in with them. That's just, I mean, they're obviously. strong but that's not the case like you know there's a good mix again of people um you know especially in london like we're a diverse city aren't we and so the brigade reflects that we are diverse and i just think it is daunting to go into it but it's not what you think what you would think it is what i thought it was it's very different you know we've got everyone's everyone's somebody's son and like a lot of the lads on my watch have got children, you know, and their, you know, their sons of single parents and everyone's got their story. And it makes them who they are and that's lovely. I think so too.

And I also think, like, from hearing you speak, I just, I can just pick, there will be people that get really excited about the idea of following, following on from this conversation, for sure. Definitely. I was thinking to myself, I would like to do something. sort of fire safety course. I've done a first aid thing. Why not a fire thing? I would be, as we currently stand, I'd be absolutely flipping rubbish in a fire situation. I'd like to be less rubbish actually. I'd like to know what you're supposed to do and what's the best route and how to make sure that kids get out of the house safely as possible. I mean, for people listening for like a family fire safety aspect, what would be some tips you could maybe pass on for people

in feeling like me. Yeah, so firstly, we do things called home fire safety visits. So in between all of the incidents that we go to, we will, people will book home fire safety visits, which are free and they can do it on the website. And we will attend people's home addresses and we'll go through your home and say, right, have you got smoke alarms? We'll have a look at perhaps the plugs sockets that you use, if they're overloaded, with certain types of extension leads and things like that.

We'll have a look at if you've got any missing fire doors. We'll have a look at your escape routes. So, you know, if you're asleep upstairs, have you got any like blocks stairwells or anything like that? So we go through stuff, you know, to give people home fire safety advice. And then we'll also talk about, you know, if you're on any kind of medications that make you drowsy or if you've got anything in your home that could be a potential risk,

to us like oxygen cylinders some people are on oxygen cylinders sorry oxygen um what you call them like the seapats yes yeah yeah yeah sorry brain's all right um and so we will go through and identify any kind of like things like that that could be a risk to us if there was a fire at your house or stuff that we need to be aware of um so it's basically like gathering knowledge and giving advice and that's why we do home via safety visits for people that are a bit more vulnerable we can fit smoke alarms if needed as well. And yeah, we'll give you advice on how to create a fire escape plan. So basic things that we recommend when we go into people's homes and give them home

fire safety advice is that you don't block any kind of like fire exits. So you don't block your front door with any kind of bits of clutter or whatever that we all end up with with a family or your back door. Have that conversation with your children. How would you get out of a fire, out of the house, if there's a fire at the bottom of your stairs and mommy and daddy weren't around, like, have that conversation with your children. You know, I get my kids to think about different situations. Not that we sit there doing this on a Friday night, but you know what I mean? Like, I've got them to think about, right, if you were here and there's a fire here, how would you get out?

You'd use that window. You know, you would. Oh, God, you're so right. I was thinking so much about the home and then I'm thinking it put it anywhere, any venue, any, anywhere you find yourself. Yeah, that's it. Like, have a think about what you would do in certain situations. And it's not to like make you paranoid or catastrophes about things, but it's just having that. It's being prepared. Yeah, yeah. I think that's super smart. And it's a really, it's a really, yeah, it's a good way to prepare yourself and to be as engaged with the what if so that you can enjoy right now as well. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I'm into that too. Yeah. One of the things that I always say when we do home fire safety visits is, is get yourself a carbon monoxide alarm because that is one of the incidents that we go to

that is awful because it's a gas that you can't smell or see. Yeah. And it's deadly. So I'm always like, get on Amazon, get yourself a carbon monoxide alarm. Yeah. Done. Well, thank you so much. I think there's so much to take away.

I do want to book in for the home fire safety. You know, the ability to go through it. Yeah, the visit. I'd like that. I love the. idea of the cadets for the kids. Yeah. I'm going to check that out too.

But I also think the overwhelming thing for me is how magic it is to listen to what you're being told in yourself about what you would, the potential you have and about acting on it. And don't let the unanswer questions be the thing that stops you. But to get out there for yourself and actually get the answers. Because it might be something that leads you to feeling as excited and fulfilled as you do. which is very, very catching, actually. It's infectious. Thank you.

Oh, thank you. And see you at Glastonbury. Yes, see at Glaston. Hopefully not an emergency situation. Just a glass thing. Just fun. Yay. Thank you so much, Shavon.

And how cool is that about Glastonbury? What a funny shift that we'd met backstage there. Fun though. And how inspiring is it that Chavon is so excited about being a firefighter and also wants to, influence other women to potentially follow in her footsteps. I'm sure there'll be people listening who thought, actually, there's something in that that resonates with me. In the blurb to the podcast when you look on the wherever you get your podcasts, so not on the Instagram post, but on the sort of blurb bit that attached to the podcast episode itself, there's also some extra info for you.

There's your home fire safety checker and the website where you can find out more about that, which is simple and practical on specific advice on your family, your home and how to keep safe. And also information about their charge safe campaign because on average there's a fire from a lithium battery in an e-bike or an e-scooter every two days. And that's just in London. So lots of stuff you can find out about that. So, you know, it's an interesting story but also one that might, they might learn something that's actually going to be something you can carry forward in that way. a little bit of fire safety. You can never be a bad thing.

But yeah, it's just so brilliant that she came around and was so generous with her time. So thank you very much, Shavonne, for absolutely painting a picture of your world and what led you to go from being a model to a firefighter. And thank you so much to Claire Jones for producing the podcast. Thank you to Richard for, well, doing the sound check at the moment, but also editing my podcast.

Thanks to LMA. for doing the beautiful artwork. And of course, biggest thank you to you in your lovely ears. Whatever you're up to you this week, I hope you manage to see, you know, if you're in the UK, keep your Factor 50 where you can find it.

You're going to need it for the next little while. I've got another glorious guest for you next week. And actually, I need to come out of my little cocoon and go and do some of my day job. It's back to the day job. But I'm actually, look, I'm really excited because I think it was last summer. We ended up doing so many festivals in the rain.

and they are just a bit miserable. You just want to be warm and happy. So I'm on tonight at about quarter past, 20 past 8. So it's going to be, you know, sundown, beautiful, gorgeous springtime, hot evening. I mean, come on. There's worse things to do with your time, aren't there? I'm looking forward to that. If you're coming to any of my festivals, I can't wait to see you.

All right. I will be back again next week. Have a good one. Let's love. Thank you so much.