Cambridgeshire’s chief fire officer has announced his intention to retire.

Chris Strickland, who has held the position for the past eight years, will step down from the role in September.

Having joined Cambridgeshire in 2007, after serving 24 years with Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, Chris arrived as assistant chief fire officer.

He was promoted to deputy chief before becoming chief fire officer in 2016 and will retire having served over 40 years in the fire service.

Chris said: “I have been honoured and incredibly proud to lead this fire and rescue service and the fantastic people who work here and so it has been a tough decision to plan to hang up the uniform for good, but now feels the right time to pass the baton on to someone else.

“We are widely recognised as being a high performing fire and rescue service and I believe we’re in a good position for someone else to now pick up the reins and continue to deliver the best possible service we can to our communities.”

Councillor Edna Murphy, chair of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority announced Chris’s retirement at an authority meeting.

She said: “Chris has provided exemplary and inspiring leadership to Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service, continuing the drive for improvement with courage and empathy during difficult times.

“We are all grateful to him for what has been a career of dedicated public service.”

Councillor Murphy added that a full recruitment process to find Chris’s successor is now being planned and will begin in the coming weeks.