New West Midlands fire chief hopes 'one team' vision silences critics after chaos Brilliant job or poisoned chalice? After 15 months of tumult, West Midlands Fire Service has a new boss and he's here to stay Simon Tuhill, now Chief Fire Officer for the West Midlands (Image: WMFS ) West Midlands Fire Service's new boss has pledged to bring stability and calm after 15 months of trauma following the high profile death of Wayne Brown and its tumultuous aftermath. Simon Tuhill, in post now for four months, said he wanted to build on the 'incredibly positive' welcome he had received touring the service's stations and workshops during his early tenure. ‌ His vision was to ensure everyone in the service felt part of 'one team' - and early signs were promising, with none of the 'negativity' that a year of difficult headlines might have led him to expect, he said. READ MORE: Mayor hits out at 'Brummie bashing' as bin strike negotiations restart But he admitted the loss of Mr Brown, one of a series of tragic deaths of fire service past and present personnel last year, and its aftermath had clearly impacted staff. Article continues below "We need to remember that Wayne leaves behind a family who continue to grieve, and many people here at the fire service still feel his loss keenly. Tragically we lost several other colleagues last year, all of whom are remembered. "But Wayne was and will remain the first black chief officer the UK fire and rescue service has ever had, and that will never change. "We need to get to the stage where we can recognise Wayne's legacy but then also look forward in terms of our service's direction of travel. This is a brilliant job but our people can be exposed to very, very traumatic incidents and that's something I think no one should do alone. No one should feel in a position where they can't reach out. ‌ "Part of that is knowing the organisation has got your back and that we look after each other. That applies equally to Wayne and the other colleagues that were tragically lost last year." Fire chief Wayne Brown who died in Birmingham last January, 2024 (Image: PA ) Mr Brown died, aged 54, while facing investigation over allegations about his qualifications on his CV, and after two years of harassment from an anonymous email account, alongside official complaints alleging he was unfit to lead the service. ‌ An inquest takes place next month by the Birmingham coroner that will investigate the circumstances of his death. Mr Tuhill, previously deputy chief at the much smaller Northamptonshire service, took up the position at the helm in the West Midlands just before Christmas. He admitted he had thought long and hard before taking up the role, given the intense spotlight the service was under. He was also aware another candidate for the role, Ben Brook, had briefly accepted then rejected the job. ‌ "You wouldn't be human if taking this job you hadn't thought about what the implications of that would be," he said. "But before I came I made some phone calls within the fire service to try to understand what the service was actually like, and all the feedback was that the service delivery, the core business of prevention, protection and response, was second to none. That's only been reinforced since I've been here. "I haven't regretted it for one second," he says. "It's fair to say that West Midlands Fire Service has had some turbulent times over the last year, but my journey in the last 100 days has been really positive." ‌ READ MORE: ‘Pains me personally’- Birmingham Council leader on city’s image as bin strike makes global headlines Mr Tuhill succeeded Oliver Lee, who was in post as an interim for a short but extremely eventful six months, leaving after a withering public assessment of the 'ungovernable' service. During his brief stint, Mr Lee, a former Royal Marine commander, highlighted a series of worrying issues around the service's finances and operations, and later took to the social media channel LinkedIn to attack fire authority officials and councillors for lacking 'courage, transparency, care and honesty' before being suspended and later resigning. ‌ Mr Tuhill says he too uses LinkedIn, but won't using it as a means of attack, nor seek headlines. "I think (Linkedin) is a great way to showcase what 1,900 people who work for the West Midlands Fire Service do, not me. I've used it to showcase chief officer commendation awards, or that we had 22 trainee firefighters that have just passed out that have joined us on their journey through the fire service - I'm super jealous of them because they're starting on their careers and they've got all the amazing things I've experienced to come. "I've recognised staff working for us for 20 or 30 years, recognizing them and really importantly, their families...I'm acutely conscious that when you join the fire service, though it's the best job in the world and I've loved it for 27 years, your families kind of join with you whether they like it or not....they are also dealing with the impact of significantly traumatic incidents and you go home after a hard day and that might be hard on the family. So yes, my focus on LinkedIn or wherever is very much 'it's about them, it's about what they do'. "But I also recognise that as the most senior leader, if things don't go right - and we don't always get it right - I am absolutely accountable. And so that's when I step up." ‌ As a result of last year's turmoil, the HMICFRS (HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services) announced it was going to carry out a separate review of the service's governance, alongside its planned full inspection of the service which started in December and is due to report its findings imminently. Simon Tuhill has been appointed West Midlands Fire Service's new Chief Fire Officer (Image: WMFS ) The service has also launched a new governance improvement plan and board, independently led by Zoe Billingham, a former HMICFRS inspector and a trustee of SafeLives, a national domestic abuse charity, alongside independent experts in finance and local government and Nottinghamshire's fire chief Craig Parkin, sitting with senior members of the fire service and authority. ‌ Mistakes have been made, said Mr Tuhill. The service has been afflicted by claims among staff about racism, sexism, along with discontent about moves to reduce crewing on some callouts - a move he said was 'common sense' when it came to tackling bin fires, or someone locked out, rather than the high resource needed for a major incident. He also rebuffed claims that a £12 million budget underspend exposed by his predecessor Lee was due to 'financial mismanagement'. It was linked to several factors, one of them around grant funding that arrived later than expected, and some linked to recruitment and vacancies, he claimed. Asked if the people of the West Midlands could trust him, he said: "I would say to the people of the West Midlands that I bring to this job big metropolitan fire service experience (he previously worked for the London Fire Brigade), experience of working in smaller services, the ability to work well with partners, and really just a deep understanding of how the fire service works and how we tick. ‌ "At heart I am still an operational firefighter, I feel connected to the staff and I think that is super important." READ MORE: Every homeless hostel hotspot in Birmingham - how does your area fare His priority during his first months had been to 'get out and meet as many of our people' as possible, with an intention to visit every station, workshop and department. ‌ "I'm very inclusive as a leader. Admitting that you don't have all the answers, as a leader, is not a vulnerability, it's a strength. I'm working in a complex organisation that protects nearly three million people, that has 1,900 staff - I can't possibly have all the answers, but all of us together, we do, and that's why the one-team approach is how we move forward as an organisation." He said he had found a culture that was 'really positive and committed'. "We're not perfect. We're never going to be perfect and there's always room to grow and there's always room for me to grow our organization, and we do that together. That's my one team approach. "I'm not here to rewrite history, I know that (tragedies) and what came after really impacted some people, but I also know that not once during that time has our delivery suffered in terms of service for the people of the West Midlands. In the first hundred days I was here, we'd taken over 22,000 calls, responded to 7,000 operational incidents and we did 6,000 safe and well visits. Article continues below "A lot of the crews tell me they just want to focus now on all of those amazing things we do. "Just a few weeks ago there was a very serious fire in Walsall. Our crews rescued five people from a flat fire and those five people may not be alive today if it wasn't for their intervention. I'm incredibly proud." Earlier this month a judge formally dismissed a harassment charge against Benjamin Walker, a fire training instructor and author, linked to Wayne Brown. Mr Walker had always denied wrongdoing.