Kevin Longshaw is the Area Manager for Operational Training/Internal National Resilience (NR) at Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service.
He joined MFRS in 1998 and has served at a number of community fire stations. In 2004, he became one of the original members of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service’s Search and Rescue Team (SRT) - the first of its kind in the UK fire and rescue service.
During his career, Kevin has been involved in and led on a number of key national work-streams resulting in the production of national guidance and other doctrine in areas such as health and safety, fire service operations, technical rescue and National Resilience (NR).
His operational experience has seen him attend a number of high profile incidents including various wide scale flooding events across the UK and the Bosley Wood Flour Mill explosion in Cheshire, for which he received a Chief Fire Officer's commendation. He was also deployed to the British Virgin Islands to lead the assessment, search and rescue operations following Hurricane Irma in 2017.
Between December 2019 until January 2022, Kevin led the National Resilience Assurance Team (NRAT) during the Covid pandemic and was pivotal in a number of national workstreams resulting in vaccination centres being provided across Fire and Rescue Services nationwide. His efforts in this area were recognised during the Service’s HMICFRS inspection when its effectiveness in responding to national incidents was rated as 'outstanding'.
Kevin is currently an Area Manager with responsibility for Operational Training and oversight of our internal National Resilience (NR) provision and arrangements; thus ensuring our operational personnel receive the requisite training required to keep them safe and effective.
In addition to this, Kevin is also responsible for providing assurance to the Fire Authority that our NR assets are operationally viable and staffed with trained and competent personnel. His role requires strategic leadership, governance and accountability for all of these elements.
Kevin has been a Blue Light Champion for several years and is also the strategic sponsor for the Neurodiversity and Armed Forces staff networks. As a qualified coach and mentor, he supports personnel at various levels across the Fire and Rescue Service sector as a whole, seeking to assist them with their development.
In his spare time, Kevin enjoys walking in the Lake District, kayaking and Hyrox. He is also a volunteer with a local charity who assist former blue light and military personnel living with PTSD.