Josephine Reynolds

Josephine Reynolds (born 28 March 1965) is a British writer and former firefighter. She has been described as one of the first full-time female firefighters in the UK.^[1][2][3]

Josephine Reynolds
Josephine Reynolds in September 1982

Life

Reynolds grew up in Narberth, Pembrokeshire.^[4] When she was 12, her family home, where she lived with her mother, brother, and step-father, burned down.^[5] In 1981, at age 16, she left school and moved to Norfolk to live with her father.^[4]

In 1982 she was accepted on a new training scheme with the Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service aimed at school leavers.^[4] After a year of training, she began working with the fire and rescue service in Norfolk in 1983, aged 18. She worked at the fire station in Thetford.^[5] Three years later she qualified to drive a fire engine.^{[citation needed]}

She married a fellow firefighter in December 1986.^[5] The following year, they both left to travel.^[1][4] Reynolds moved back to Norfolk in 1990, after the breakdown of her marriage.^[5] She later moved to China.^[5]

Reynolds published an autobiography, Fire Woman: The Extraordinary Story of Britain's First Female Firefighter, in 2017.^[1] As of 2017, Reynolds was retired and living in Cambodia.^[5]

References

1. Josephine Reynolds (6 April 2017). Fire Woman: The Extraordinary Story of Britain's First Female Firefighter. Michael O'Mara. ISBN 978-1-78243-700-0.
2. "Britain's first female firefighter: 'There was no way I was going to be the weakest link'". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
3. Holloway, Sally (1992). Courage High!: A History of Firefighting in London. pp. 239, 242.
4. Arkless, John (22 October 2017). "The woman who became Britain's first female firefighter". BBC News. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
5. Archer, Elizabeth (30 March 2017). "My burning ambition to be the UK's first female firefighter". Daily Express. Retrieved 9 January 2025 – via PressReader.