Maldon Fire Station's Watch Manager Martin Cable has been awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM), it was announced today (Wednesday, 30 December).

Martin, an on-call firefighter who has dedicated 45 years of his life to serving his local community has been recognised in the Queen's New Year honours list.

Nominated for his long service to Essex County Fire and Rescue Service, he has served the people of Maldon for four and a half decades and began his career with the Essex service in 1975 when he was just 18 years old. The reason for the honour is listed as "for services to the community in Maldon".

The now 63-year-old has lived in Maldon his whole life, working as a milkman alongside being an on-call firefighter.

Providing fire cover for 120 hours every week along with leading his crew often means missing family and social events and results in many disturbed nights in order to protect and rescue anyone at any given time.

On learning that he had been awarded the honour, Martin said: "It was a great honour and a total surprise to learn I'd been nominated. It has been a great privilege to serve my local community for all these years and I feel really privileged to have been recognised in this way.

"Not many people can say they've served as a firefighter for 45 years but I've enjoyed it and still do - there's definitely a few years of firefighting left in me yet.

"It's a really nice ending to what's been a strange year and without a doubt I'll be celebrating with my family and my station as soon as I can."

Jo Turton, Chief Fire Officer, said: "This recognition is well deserved and I'm incredibly proud of Martin.

"Our mission to is to keep Essex a safe place to live, work and travel and it is clear that Martin has dedicated his whole life to achieving this and inspiring others to do the same. I want to personally thank him for this.

"The level of commitment, sacrifice and loyalty Martin has shown to Maldon Fire Station is an incredible achievement and demonstrates fantastic dedication to the community of Maldon and to our fire service."

Simon Dedman, Group Manager for the North East, said:

"I've had the privilege of working with Martin over the last 15 years as his Station Manager and Group Manager and have seen first hand his commitment to his community.

"He manages a station of 24 people, leading many operational incidents, locally and across the county.

"The dedication he has shown to the community of Maldon and surrounding areas is exemplary, and I'd like to offer my most sincere congratulations to him as an individual, his team and our fire service."