Fireman Sam

*““Great fires of London! (*Great balls of fire! in the US dub*)**"”*
―his main catchphrase from Series 1-The Great Fire of Pontypandy
**Samuel "Sam" Peyton-Jones**, better known as **Fireman Sam**, is the main character and titular protagonist of the television series of the same name. He is a senior firefighter for the Pontypandy Fire Service, and usually drives Jupiter. Him and Elvis work for Station Officer Steele, along with Penny starting from the fifth series, and Arnold and Ellie starting from *Heroes of the Storm*.

## Biography

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 at 3 Vale Road and joined the Pontypandy Fire Service, where he is the lead firefighter and regular driver of Jupiter the fire engine.

In his spare time, Sam likes being an inventor in his back garden shed. In Sam's Day Off, he made a popcorn machine which unfortunately ended up trapping him in his shed.

There have been a few times where Sam has needed help from the fire service himself. For example in Deep Trouble for Sam, when he falls down a hole caused by a landslide at Penny Morris' new cottage garden.

In Series 6, he moved to a house just to the left of the Pontypandy Fire Station. The back gate of the house leads directly into the station yard.

Sam's brother Charlie is a local fisherman and his sister-in-law Bronwyn runs the Whole fish Café. Sam is a kind and attentive uncle to Charlie's and Bronwyn's children, Sarah and James. Sam also has a healthy relationship with the people he works with too.

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 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

Fireman Sam is a great fire-fighting hero. Despite his cool calm exterior, Sam is ready to leap into action without a moment’s hesitation. He is a competent and brave firefighter, 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 Series 6, 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.

He lives in the village 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. Although Sam is the brother of Charlie and the Uncle of Sarah and James, he feels that everyone in Pontypandy is part of his family.

Fireman 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's only when he's really surprised he exclaims, "*Great Fires of London!*".

## Further Qualifications

* Advanced Driver
* 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 Jupiter

* Every episode except Camping, Sam's Day Off, Safe with Sam, Bentley the Robot, Deep Trouble for Sam, What Goes Up and Steele Under Par.

### 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

### 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 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 operates Saturn

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

## Trivia

* David Jones's daughter came up with Sam's name.
	+ It can also 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.
* When creating Sam, Rob Lee started by drawing a classic figure of eight cartoon face adding a bulb-shaped nose.
* In some early Fireman Sam story books, that had specially drawn illustrations, Fireman Sam was given brown eyes for unknown reasons.
* 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 Series 5 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 (he drove Phoenix in a sticker) 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.
* Sam has yet to drive Phoenix in an actual episode.

## Quotes

* *Great fires of London!* (UK)/*Great balls of fire!* (US) (*Series 1 - The Great Fire of Pontypandy*)
* *All present and correct, sir!* (*Series 1 - 4*)
* *Ready for action!* (*Fireman Sam in Action*)

## References

1. ↑ https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/showbiz/fireman-sam-celebrates-25th-birthday-2033449
2. ↑ *Fireman Sam*
3. ↑ https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/showbiz/fireman-sam-celebrates-25th-birthday-2033449
4. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/oct/27/how-we-made-fireman-sam
5. ↑ https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/showbiz/fireman-sam-celebrates-25th-birthday-2033449