FOR me, one image sums it all up in Clive Shearman's new book covering the recent history of the fire brigade in Worcestershire and Herefordshire.

It was taken at the height of the blaze that destroyed Woolworth's store in Worcester on Monday, October 1, 1979 and shows a group of firefighters standing in High Street, looking anxiously up at the tall, blackened building belching huge clouds of foul smoke and fumes.

Rising from the roadway, which is criss-crossed by hoses and covered in running water, are several firemen's ladders. They point directly to the heart of the inferno and, watched by the men below, a lone figure is climbing one.

It is chief fire officer Frank Partington and he's decided it's time to get his firefighters out of there.

The building had become so dangerous, the men in the BA kits deep inside could get killed. Trapped by falling debris and burned alive or overcome by poisonous fumes and incinerated where they lay.

So in time-honoured fashion, the chief climbed a ladder until he was level with the nearest crew and blew his whistle. The men that heard it blew theirs and so the signal passed into the building to the pair nearest the seat of the fire. At which point, everyone evacuated, fast.

That time everyone emerged unscathed, but there have been occasions when they haven't. Firefighting is a dangerous job and the expressions on the faces of the men waiting in Worcester High Street that dark autumn afternoon for their colleagues to get out safe spoke volumes.

In an era of mobile phones and sophisticated systems, a whistle may seem an old fashioned form of communication, but it's still used as the easiest and most effective way. Firefighters nationwide know the shrill blast of a whistle and it makes their hairs stand on end, because its bedfellow is danger.

There are plenty of pictures in Clive Shearman's An Illustrated History of Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service to prove the point. Images of houses, factories, vehicles and even Worcester's Grade I Listed King Charles restaurant on fire are spread throughout the book. With the most spectacular sight being the 60 ton diesel tank hurled into the air during the blaze at Bulmers Moorfields site in Hereford in August, 1992.

The volume is a companion to Clive's earlier Firefighting in Worcestershire, which he co-authored with Brian Cornish, and which covered the earlier years of the emergency service.

Brian's memories are also included in the second book, as are those of many of the men, and now women, who were there at some of the county's most dangerous and tragic incidents.

The fire at Sun Valley Ltd. Hereford, on September 6, 1993, sadly ticked both those boxes.

It was also one of the largest, if not the largest, in the brigade's history and at its height was fought by 23 pumping appliances, numerous specialist appliances and upwards of 130 firefighters of all ranks.

It began in late morning in a unit used for defrosting portions of meat, which had actually caught fire earlier in the day. But this had been dealt with by Sun Valley staff and the brigade was not called.

However, three hours later flames were seen again in the unit and this time spread rapidly. Although crews were soon on the scene, the progress of the fire was deceptive as it was partially concealed by a thickly insulated ceiling, above which it travelled largely unchecked.

When this ceiling collapsed, two firefighters below were trapped. Despite desperate efforts by their colleagues to rescue them, they perished.

The sheer size of the building - it covered two football pitches - brought its own problems for the fire crews and the scale of the incident meant the last of the appliances didn't leave the scene until three days later, at 4am on September 9.

Of course, the role of the brigade has now extended well beyond fighting fires and it is now known as a "fire and rescue service" to reflect this. Virtually any scenario involving a rescue comes within its remit, be it a road accident, flood, industrial accident or someone getting stuck half way down a quarry on the Malvern Hills.

When the alarm sounds and the crews rush to their vehicles, anything could be waiting and on second thoughts another image in the book sums up their bravery.

It too was at the Bulmers fire, shortly after the huge diesel tank was blown into the air creating a massive fuel fireball. When it descended out of its orange, molten cloud, the tank came down on the back of a turntable ladder vehicle pulled up on a service roadway. The picture was taken just as it landed. Smoke, burning fuel and debris is everywhere. There are four firefighters and one young off-duty nurse in uniform also in the shot. Every figure is running as fast as they can straight towards the scene. No one has turned away.

l Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service - An Illustrated History by Clive Shearman is published by Tempus at £12.99