IT WOULD be impossible to count up how much of his spare time firefighter Dave Davies has devoted to the community over the last 30 years.

The 49-year-old, pictured, was a retained firefighter at Biddulph for 28 years before becoming a full-time fireman in 2007.

Despite also working at Silverdale Colliery while being retained, he has given talks to schoolchildren and appeared at community events for many years.

When the colliery closed, Dave took on the task of making sure every home in the Biddulph and Werrington areas had adequate smoke alarms – a mission that took him six years to complete.

Now he is full-time he is based at Burton fire station, but in his time off he still works at Biddulph's station. Despite this he still finds time to continue to give talks to children, go to community events and speak to teenagers on the Crash Course programme.

Crash Course is a hard-hitting presentation designed to raise awareness of the dangers of irresponsible driving.

Dave's devotion to the fire service has earned him a nomination for The Sentinel's Our Heroes awards, in the Beyond The Call Of Duty category.

Dave, who lives in Biddulph, is married to Jackie and has two children, Nicola, aged 23, who is a staff nurse, and 21-year-old mechanic Andrew.

He said: "My father was a firefighter so that's how I got into it. I work four days at Burton, and when I'm off I work at Biddulph.

"If any church or school has an open day I'll go along, and I go into schools to do the Crash Course.

"My claim to fame is knocking on every door in Werrington and Biddulph to fit smoke alarms. It took me six years but I enjoyed meeting all the people.

"It's a passion for me. I want to be there for the community."

Dave was nominated by 27-year-old Jill Salt, who lives in Biddulph.

The Newcastle College lecturer said: "Dave used to come to my Brownies to give us talks on fire safety, and he still does that now.

"He has been to the college to talk to students as part of the Crash Course scheme, and he's fitted smoke alarms for me and my mum and given us advice on fire safety.

"My husband James was looking into being a firefighter and Dave was really helpful. James qualified last year.

"Dave is at pretty much every community event in Biddulph and I think he deserves to be recognised."

Dave added: "I was shocked to be nominated. It's nice but I work in a team of 15 so all of them should be recognised.

"Also my family have been a massive support over the years – without them I wouldn't have been able to do it."