With a background in local government management, Rita Dexter is now the most senior woman in the world's third largest fire and rescue service. Michael Burton talks to her about a career that began in Birmingham at the age of 16.

Rita Dexter has enjoyed a meteoric career. Brought up in a Birmingham household of factory workers and leaving school at 16 she is now the most senior female fire executive in England – but her heart remains in local government, which forged her.