People in Shropshire are being urged to consider becoming retained firefighters as their new year’s resolution.The Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service is on the lookout for retained firefighters to join fire stations in the county.
Officers are particularly keen to hear from people who can provide day cover and from women and people from ethnic minority backgrounds who can lend their time.
Retained firefighters must live within five minutes of the fire station they work out of.
Sub-officer Mike Beach said retained firefighters were needed for Whitchurch, Prees, Ellesmere, Minsterley, Much Wenlock and Albrighton. He said fresh faces were needed and reminded people retained firefighters are paid.
“We are still looking for retained firefighters in a lot of stations in the county,” he said. “We will talk to anybody who can give any sort of cover.
“We are definitely looking for people who can give day cover. They can be people who live and work in the area. In the retained stations it’s a community thing. You’re supporting your own community.
“It is very much a community thing. I do it because I just like helping people, I always wanted to be a fireman, simple as that.
“We are always looking for day cover at stations.
“If we get one it would make a tremendous difference. It can be the difference between them being available and not being available.”
Mr Beach said retained firefighters had skills which could be useful in the workplace.
“We are very, very grateful to employers who do let people respond to fires,” he said. “It can be a two-way thing.”
For more information, contact Mr Beach on 07738 818901.
The call comes a day after Shropshire’s longest serving retained firefighter Mick Howe, 64, retired. Mr Howe, former station manager at Market Drayton, will this year receive the MBE for his work over the past 42 years.
5 Comments
In these times of equal opportunities
why mention “women and people from ethnic minority backgrounds”?
Kavan, possibly because these groups don’t tend to apply? just a guess but I imagine thats all that means…
Because this is England, and For centuries fire fighters have always mostly been White and Male, they are purely pointing out the fact that all are welcome, And who said we lived in an equal opportunities time of life ? nothing is equal and never will be so long as there is greed and power.
Wonder why the Fire Service is always advertising for Retained Firefighters? Might be that you have to give 100hrs cover per week (cover is being available from your place of work or home at anytime) giving up 2-3 weeks of your holiday a year(if your are a member of the TA your employer has to release you for training,not the case for Retained) to keep up with your training, paying 25% tax on all earnings (classed as second job)and then not even treated as an equal to your wholetime counterpart.I did this job for 13 years and would not recommend this job to my worst enemy.
fter reading pauls comments i have to agree with every word,retained firefighters have never been treated equal by fulltime firefighters,as a retained firefighter myself i am constantly struggling to do the hours they require,the fire brigade is constantly expecting more and more from the retained,for very little money,we have recently been forced to do an extra three hours per month,which does not sound much but when you are trying to hold down another job elsewhere it gets beyond a part-time job,all for three hundred pounds a month,which if you share that amount with the hours of cover its about 90pence an hour,no wonder the country is struggling to keep its fire service on the cheap.a fulltimer earns five times more for the same job,wake up chief officers before you loose the service for good,after all its a part time job with part time money,why push for more and more hours,pay a decent wage and people will be happy to join,i also would not recommend this to anyone ,getting out of bed in the early hours in the rain or snow for 8 pounds after tax,,