New push for Much Wenlock fire station recruits
A second push is being made to find more firefighters for a Shropshire town after a recruitment drive re-sulted in no-one stepping forward to help the station.
The station in Much Wenlock launched the recruitment drive last weekend to tackle a lack of volunteer firefighters. But organisers said they drew a blank after no-one offered their support.
Volunteers are urgently needed to ensure the station remains operational after staffing levels fell to just eight, leaving the station currently running at half capacity.
Station manager Neil Grove, assistant group commander for the south district, which includes Much Wenlock, said: "We did not get a very good response to our first recruitment drive."
He added: "Wenlock is historically one of the stations we have struggled with, which is perhaps to do with the nature of the town.
"There is not a huge amount of work in the town and a lot of people living there are more elderly than in other places.
"We have been trying to get out into the community for people to come down and have a look at what we do."
A second recruitment drive is being held tomorrow, from 10am to 12.30pm, at the station, in Smithfield Road.
Mr Grove said that the fire service has been trying to drum up support from workers at local firms.
"We have been going round businesses in Much Wenlock to get them on board because the problem we have got is mainly during the day," he said.
"We only have eight people working at the station, who are doing a terrific job but obviously higher numbers would make their lives a lot easier. Some people are on call all the time so it would be good to give them some time off.
"At the moment we are struggling simply to get people into the station."
Numbers have dwindled at the station in recent years. It is staffed entirely by retained or on-call firefighters, who all have other jobs but travel to the station from home or work whenever there is an emergency.
Mr Grove said the drop meant it was becoming more difficult to keep the town's fire engine available at all times.
Volunteers can call into the station on any Wednesday, from 7pm, when personnel will be available to answer questions.
For further information visit www.shropshirefire.gov.uk or call (01743) 260200.
