Crews at William Ellis School

A FIREFIGHTER at Kentish Town station found himself back at his old school on Friday – working to stop a blaze from spreading from a storage room.

Steven Cronin, 33, was among the crews called to William Ellis school in Highgate Road on Friday.

“When I was at school, not many people even thought about joining the fire brigade,” he told the New Journal. “I think people thought you had to know someone to get in, but it’s not like that at all. You have to be fit, but I say to people it’s a good reason to get fit.”

He added: “”What I like a lot about the London Fire Brigade, also that I feel like you can start at the bottom and go right to the top.”

He said he trained for three months before getting posted to the Kentish Town Fire Station, off Highgate Road.

“I couldn’t believe it when I got Kentish Town, because I used to walk past it every day on the way to school,” he said. “When we go around now, the team is always laughing at me about how we turn up somewhere and I always know someone. For the first couple of weeks, I remember I kept seeing all my mates as we were going past them in the street.”

Mr Cronin added: “You know, I’ve got this special connection to the area. It’s hard to explain, but it makes me want to be as good as I can be. There been a lot of funny posts in my old school WhatsApp group this week after the fire at Ellis.” A

round 25 firefighters were at the scene and there are no reports of any injuries. It is believed to have been caused by a fault in a cooling fan. It was brought under control by 6.37am.

Mr Cronin said: “When we turned up I think it helped a bit because I knew the school’s layout. It was the same caretaker there – I remember him because I was at the school with his son.”

Steve Cronin

Remembering his time as a pupil, he said it felt like there had been a social divide at the school.

“There were kids like me from Kentish Town and Tufnell Park but then there were others from more affluent areas, like Hampstead and Highgate,” he said.“

My mum was a single parent – so that was quite hard for me and her I think too. But I have very happy memories from Ellis.”

Now living in York Way, he grew up in Gaisford Street “just by the Lion and Unicorn pub, not the new one but the old one that was all mashed up”.

He added: “I went to Kentish Town Primary School and I used to spend a lot of time with my mates on the Peckwater estate. “We’d be playing football or going around on our bikes by that old blue club [the Peckwater Tenants Hall]. I always thought that if I ever got a lot of money I’d do that place up.”

After leaving school, he got jobs as a painter and decorator and later worked as a lifeguard at Kentish Town Baths and the UPS depot in Regis Road before making a massive life decision to train to join the Royal Marines.

Mr Cronin said: “I did that for five to six years and I think it gave me a bit of purpose; I felt like I was giving my mum something back. Iraq was over when I was there, so I didn’t go to any active war zones, but I travelled to all kinds of places.”

William Ellis headteacher Izzy Jones said: “Our premises manager lives on site and so was able to promptly alert the fire brigade to minimise any damage.”