In the early hours of May 12 1996 firefighter John Ogden was in a crew responding to a 999 call. He was a member of White Watch, based at Gorton, in Manchester's inner-city.
His job couldn't have more on the frontline. The inner-city station's number of turnouts was exceptional. In the previous year 3,360 incidents had been recorded with 8000 mobilisations.
A call at 5.02am was the shift's ninth, the previous one being a major fire at a halls of residence in Rusholme. John and colleagues got into a new N-registered Volvo Saxon appliance.
They were driving towards Rushford Avenue, in Levenshulme, where someone had deliberately set fire to a car. En route they reached the junction of Slade Lane and the A6 Stockport Road. READ MORE: The 'forgotten' firefighting hero remembered 50 years after he paid the ultimate price On the way John helped the driver with directions and was pulling up his over trousers, stood up in a crouched position.
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