MEMBERS of the Kent Fire and Rescue Service are mourning the death of Chris Nelson who served as the brigade's audio-visual manager.

He was 60 and died after a long illness. Before taking on his civilian role at headquarters at Tovil, Mr Nelson had been a firefighter at Medway and Ramsgate and was a retained fireman based at Wingham, near Canterbury.

One of his colleagues, Paul Dennis, said: "It's a very sad time for the service. I had worked with Chris for the last 20 years or so in my capacity as a firefighter and photographer with the local media.

"He was a popular, genuine, hard working man who strived to enhance the image of the service though his camera lens.

"His excellent images made the people of Kent acutely aware of the different safety awareness campaigns that have been publicised by the service.

"Although though he was not actually firefighting he was helping to save people from injury or death by his work.

"When attending incidents with the fire service, we always shared a joke and a good chat. Chris was a fantastic character. Our thoughts at this time are with his family."

John White, an assistant editor with the Kent Messenger Group, said: "Many of the graphic photographs taken by Chris at fires and roads crashes around the county were used by our titles and on the website. They were always of a first-rate quality."