FEATURE
MARK EGAN
BY PHOEBE FULLER
They say there’s no smoke without fire, but for
Mark Egan, owner of Firehouse Vape, there’s
neither. Leaving behind a successful career
as a firefighter to focus on running his own
vape business, Mark is now fighting the smoke
instead – one flavourful juice at a time.
When Mark’s wife, Amanda, started vaping seven years
ago, she was finally able to kick a heavy smoking habit for
which nothing else had worked. This unexpected success
was a part of what encouraged the couple to set up their
family business, signalling a major career move for Mark.
He’d been working as an operational firefighter for
Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service for several years
when New Zealand Fire Service offered him a job. With
a fire engineering degree and a great deal of practical
experience under his belt, Mark was highly sought after
and would eventually return to the UK for another job
offer, as a fire safety consultant.
But it was upon his return to the UK that he noticed just
how much steam the vaping industry had picked up in his
absence and so, armed with the positivity of Amanda’s
vaping victory, a small idea blossomed into an award-
winning company.
Mark tells Vapouround: “When I came back to the UK,
vaping was starting to take hold and rapidly expand, so
we spoke to a family member who’s in the industry and
that’s where we took it from.
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FIREHOUSE VAPE
“I had an idea of the Firehouse Vape brand, because the
helmet badge which is on our logo sits on my office wall
at home; it was presented to me in America by Salt Lake
City Fire Department when I went over there, to bring
back a new firefighting technique to the UK.”
Mark’s professional background is the foundation ofthe
business, which draws so much inspiration from his
years spent with the fire service and influences every
new creation.
“I linked everything back to the people, the characters
and the names that I knew from firefighting. All our ranges
are linked to the watch system – white watch, blue watch,
green watch; they’re all watches on the fire station – we
tried to create a bit of a story behind each flavour.”
Starting an e-liquid business in 2017 was never going
to be an easy task though, with so many huge names
already very well established in this massively competitive
industry. But Mark and Amanda knew that if there’s one
thing that sells, it’s quality.
Mark says: “Because of my background I like to do
things properly, so everything in our short-fill range is
fully emissions tested, we were the first short-fill only
manufacturer to become members of the Independent