As a Royal Navy officer, he saw active service in World War I and participated in the Battle of Jutland.
With the creation of the National Fire Service, he became the first and only person to head firefighting across the whole of Great Britain.
He served on HMS Centurion, a King George V-class battleship, during the Battle of Jutland in 1916,[1] as a gunnery officer.
[7] He recruited John Horner in 1933 and set him on the road to fast track promotion.
[1] In January 1939, he was seconded to the Home Office to prepare plans to co-ordinate the London Region's sixty-six fire brigades.
[3] This posting was purely administrative and prevented him from operationally commanding the region's fire brigades.
[1] He retired on 28 February 1947, after which the National Fire Service was split up into brigades under local authority control.
[11] In the 1941 New Year Honours, Firebrace was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
[15] He was appointed Commander of the Order of St. Olav by the King of Norway "in recognition of services during the war".