A FIRE safety officer was due to get an MBE at Buckingham Palace today.
Faz Patel, a member of the Lancashire Fire and Rescue's Pennine area community fire safety team, was awarded the honour in Her Majesty's Birthday Honours List.
It is in recognition of his voluntary involvement to promote community cohesion.
Faz said "I am really chuffed at the MBE.
"We live in an environment where there is a fear of talking about other people's faith because it is not seen as politically correct.
"My work is about building bridges between different groups."
Fire chiefs said Faz has promoted the fire safety message with initiatives and projects delivered in mosques, madrassas and homes within the Asian heritage communities.
He can regularly be found at drop-in and community centres, often working with the police, primary care trusts, council and education groups to promote the community safety message.
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