Recruitment drive for on-call firefighters in Hartlepool

Cleveland Fire Brigade has issued the call as part of a recruitment drive on the back of the coronavirus crisis, praising how neighbourhoods came together to support each other.

On-call firefighters come from a cross-section of the community and have to be able to respond and arrive at their nearest on-call fire station within five minutes during hours of declared availability.

On-call stations are at Headland, Yarm, Guisborough, Loftus, Saltburn and Skelton, and there are also on-call duties at Redcar and Stockton Community Fire Stations.

The role can be done alongside around other employment or commitments, with the requirement being they respond via a pager system.

Steve Johnson, Senior Head for Engagement and Prevention at Cleveland Fire Brigade, has called on people to consider taking up the on-call role, adding there are many benefits to it.

He said: “During these unprecedented times we have seen many shining examples of everyone working together to keep people safe.

“We would like to harness this community spirit and ask people to seriously consider becoming on-call firefighters.

“It is a challenging, varied and highly rewarding role as you will be sharing your duties with highly motivated colleagues and putting the safety of your local area, friends, family and neighbours first.

“Firefighting is not like any other job. It can be unpredictable, exciting and rewarding coupled with the satisfaction and respect that comes with providing a crucial service to your local community.”

He added the role offers an annual ‘retainer’ payment plus hourly rates paid when firefighters attend incidents or training as well as disturbance fees.

New skills learnt in the role include first aid, road traffic collision procedures and fire safety, according to fire brigade chiefs.

Full training is given to provide an on-call service to respond to emergency calls in the same way as full-time firefighters.

The same fire engines and equipment is used but people are on-call rather than being based at the station.

More details can be found at at www.clevelandfire.gov.uk/recruitment/retained/ and people can apply via www.northeastjobs.co.uk.

It comes after last year a full-time firefighter recruitment campaign was carried out by Cleveland Fire Brigade for the first time in a decade.

12 new wholetime firefighters were appointed, the first time a full-time recruitment course has been carried out by Cleveland Fire Brigade since 2009.

Fire chiefs said the ten year period between wholetime recruitment courses was due to government cuts faced.

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