For other uses, see Fireman Sam (disambiguation).

Samuel "Sam" Jones, better known as Fireman Sam, is the titular main protagonist of the television series of the same name. He is a senior firefighter for the Pontypandy Fire Service, and usually drives the fire engine Jupiter. He and Elvis work for Station Officer Steele, along with Trevor Evans only in the original series, Penny starting from the fifth series, and Arnold and Ellie starting from Heroes of the Storm.

Biography

Original series (Series 1-4)

Sam grew up in Pontypandy. When he was young, he once wished to be a fireman at the old wishing well, which would eventually become true.^[2]

Sam lives in his house next to Trevor Evans, the bus driver. He is a member of the Pontypandy Fire Service, ran by Station Officer/Fire Captain Basil/Norris Steele. He mainly works alongside fellow firefighter Elvis Cridlington, sometimes with the bus driver Trevor Evans, who works as an auxiliary fireman and firefighter Penny Morris from Newtown. Sam is the main driver of the fire engine Jupiter and when there is an emergency, Sam is usually the one to drive it.

In his spare time, Sam likes to spend time with his niblings, Sarah and James; he likes inventing in his back garden shed. Sam has made many inventions, including "The Samuel Patent Potato Picker"^[3] and Bentley the Robot.

Despite being a fireman, Sam does need saving a couple of times, including the times when he went camping with Sarah and James, made a popcorn machine which unfortunately ended up trapping him in his shed, or when he fell down a hole caused by a sinkhole at Penny's new cottage garden.

Series 5

In the fifth series, Sam retains most of his characteristics from the original series. He still works for the Pontypandy Fire Service, ran by Station Officer Steele. He still works with fellow firefighters Elvis Cridlington and Penny Morris (who now hails in Pontypandy), although he does not work with Trevor Evans anymore. While Sam still likes to spend time with his niece and nephew Sarah and James, as well as inventing, he does that less often than he did in the original series. It is established by Sam in the fifth series that once had to save Woolly, a lamb who needed rescuing from Pontypandy Mountain.

Some inventions Sam invented in the fifth series include the Jog-a-lator,^[4] the Extending Bean Picker^[5] and the Tip-Top Popcorn Maker.^[6]

CGI series (Series 6-present)

As a young boy, Sam had many ideas of what he wanted to be when he grew up. First he wanted to be a train driver, and then he wanted to be a space man, then he wanted to be a chef, but then one day, he saw some firefighters saving a family from a burning house, Sam thought it was very exciting. After that, Sam knew what he wanted to be. He then started to watch a fireman television show that inspired him even more. Sam went to Cardiff Fire Academy to train to be a firefighter.

After completing his firefighter training at the academy, Sam returned to Pontypandy and moved into a house and joined the Pontypandy Fire Service, ran by Station Officer Norris Steele. He works alongside fellow firefighters Penny Morris and Elvis Cridlington.

The CGI series establishes that Sam's surname is 'Jones', as well as introducing his brother Charlie, a local fisherman whose wife Bronwyn runs the Whole fish Café and her father, Gareth Griffiths, who works as a train driver. They serve as the parents and grandfather of Sarah and James in the CGI series.

During The Great Fire of Pontypandy, when Chief Fire Officer Boyce gave Sam a medal, he was also offered a Station Officer position for the Rapid Response Team in Newtown. However, by the end, he declined the promotion as he knew that Pontypandy needed him more and he refused to leave the town. Boyce was very shady during this movie, and Steele guessed that Boyce was trying to lure Sam away from Pontypandy.

In Set for Action!, Sam was controversially dismissed from the brigade by Chief Fire Officer Boyce after a failed safety inspection during one of Don Sledgehammer's stunts, but was reinstated by Boyce after James gave evidence that it was Flex Dexter who sabotaged the stunt scene. During his sacking, his true reason for becoming a firefighter was revealed: while Sam was talking to Charlie about their childhood, they remembered an old fireman show they used to watch on television when they were younger.

In Norman Price and the Mystery in the Sky, Sam put his own life in danger to get explosive batteries out of Pontypandy with everyone left thinking that he was a goner, until Penny saw his shadow and knew he was alive much to everyone's relief.

Personality

Sam is a great fire-fighting hero, who despite having a cool calm exterior, he is ready to leap into action without a moment's hesitation. He is a competent, friendly, and brave fireman, who helps keep the people of Pontypandy safe. Sam is a great team player and, as one of the more senior firefighters, is a great role model for the children of Pontypandy. He considers his job to be 'the best job in the world', and often helps out in emergencies even on his days off. However, he does have an inventive streak which sometimes gets him in trouble when one of his inventions goes haywire. Since the sixth series, he has stopped inventing, though he can be creative from time to time, such as fashioning a barbecue out of an oil drum in Sausages vs. Shrimps, as well as being able to fix the light in the lighthouse in The Great Fire of Pontypandy.

He is a single man, but has a close relationship with his niece and nephew, Sarah and James, and is good friends with the villagers of Pontypandy and feels that everyone in Pontypandy is part of his family.

Sam is brave, modest and dependable. He selflessly puts his life on the line to help others and everyone in Pontypandy knows that nothing is too much trouble for Fireman Sam. He is renowned for keeping a cool head in a hot spot. It is only when he is really surprised he exclaims, "Great Fires of London!".

Further Qualifications

• Advanced Driver; Class B/C/C+E
• Trained Lifeguard
• Certified Scuba Diver
• Winter Training (HQ)

Awards

• Medal of Outstanding Bravery (The Great Fire of Pontypandy)

• Bravery Award (declined in Escape from Pontypandy Island)

• 5 More Unnamed Medals

• Three Legged Race Winner (along with Dilys and Three Legged Race)

Episodes where Sam drives a certain vehicle

Episodes where Sam drives Venus

• The New Hero Next Door
• The Wrong Smell
• The One That Got Away
• Floating Kart
• Dinosaur Hunt
• Elvis in Concert
• Floodlights
• Up, Up and Away
• The Treasure Trap
• On Thin Ice
• Sam's Birthday
• Pizza Pandemonium
• Fox on the Run
• The Break-Up
• Float Your Boat
• The Treasure of Pontypandy Pete
• Big Top Norman
• Alien Alert
• Norman Price and the Mystery in the Sky
• The Hunt for the Lesser Spotted Wader
• Go Team Wildman
• The Way of the Wild Walkers

Episodes where Sam drives Bessie

• Sky Lanterns
• Wheel of Fire
• On Thin Ice
• Treehouse Trouble
• Rocky Rescue
• Dashing Through the Snow
• Heroes of the Storm

Episodes where Sam drives Hydrus

• Heroes of the Storm
• Dog Day Disaster
• Lost in the Caves
• Alien Alert
• Space Sandwich

Episodes where Sam drives Neptune

• Poorly Penny
• The New Hero Next Door
• The One That Got Away
• Floating Kart
• Disastrous Dilys
• Charlie's Big Catch
• Turtle Hunt
• Operation Sea Turtle
• Sparkes in the Sky
• Pontypandy Pickle Paddle

Episodes where Sam drives Mountain Rescue 4x4

• Perilous Path

Episodes where Sam drives Titan

• All at Sea (mentioned by Sam when he said to Mike that they would go out on Titan to the fireworks)
• Escape from Dinosaur Island

Episodes Sam drove The Mobile Command Unit

• Pontypandy in the Park (reversing only))

Episodes Sam drove Phoenix

• Hide and Rescue
• Grown-Ups do the Silliest Things

Episodes Sam drove the Hovercraft

• Tidal Turmoil

Episodes Sam drove the Mountain Rescue Ambulance

• First Aid Fiasco

Episodes Sam drove the Pontypandy Flyer

• Space Train (to stop it from crashing)

Episodes Sam operates Saturn

• The Pontypandy Polar Bear
• Wild Cheese Chase
• The Lock In

Trivia

• While Sam was named by David Jones' eldest daughter Paula,^[7][8] coincidentally, a story in American dime novel series Pluck and Luck published by Frank Tousey was called "Still Alarm Sam, The Daring Boy Fireman, Or, Sure To He On Hand", which was written by ex-fire chief Warden and published in 1902.
• It can be assumed that Sam's surname in the CGI series 'Jones' was given to him in honour of David Jones for creating the character. The surname 'Jones' was also used in Joshua Jones, another TV series that David Jones worked on with Rob Lee. It is also a common surname in Wales.
• In a Wales Online article celebrating the 25th anniversary of the television series in 2012, Sam's surname is incorrectly said to be Peyton-Jones.^[9] This is incorrect, as Sam's surname was never Peyton. The error most likely comes from a mishearing of a dialogue line from the episode Barn Fire, with Sam's potato picker being called "The Samuel Patent Potato Picker". "Patent" refers to the fact that it is an invention.
  • When going onto the Fireman Sam Heroes page on Mattel's website, Sam's full name is indeed confirmed to be simply as Sam Jones. Whilst his formal name Samuel is confirmed in earlier series, this debunks any instances that the name "Peyton" would be part of his full name.^[10]
• In some early Fireman Sam story books, that had specially drawn illustrations, Fireman Sam was given brown eyes for unknown reasons.
• Sam's pyjamas, which Sam worn in the opening sequence of Series 1-4, have been previously been used in the "Rocky Hollow" episode "Dreaming".
• Sam was once a mascot for the Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service, alongside Freddie and Filbert the fire extinguishers. In September 2019, Sam was removed as a mascot due to being considered 'outdated' and 'not inclusive'.^[11]
• In 2009, Sam appeared with Penny, Elvis and Station Officer Steele in Peter Kay's Animated All Star Band music video on "Children in Need". Although the models from the fifth series were reused for this video mainly made up of stop-motion television characters, the characters retained their voices from the recently established CGI series.
• He has driven all of the emergency land vehicles at Pontypandy Fire Station and piloted all the emergency sea vehicles from the Ocean Rescue Centre.
• He is the only character to have appeared in every single episode.
• He is the main driver of Jupiter, Mercury, Bessie, Hydrus and Juno.
• He is the second driver of Venus, Neptune and the Mobile Command Unit.
• He drove Jupiter in every episode in Series 5.
• Up until Hide and Rescue, Sam had only been seen driving Phoenix in pictures.

Quotes

• Great fires of London! (Series 1 - The Great Fire of Pontypandy)
• All present and correct, sir! (Series 1 - 4)
• Shiver me tweakers! (Series 2)
• Ready for action! (Fireman Sam in Action)
• Great fiery chimneys! (US equivalent of “Great fires of London!”)

References