CLEVELAND FIRE: New wholetime firefighters brought in as part of recruitment campaign for first time in 10 years

The first batch of new wholetime firefighters in a decade are being recruited ready to keep our communities safe.
Chief Fire Officer Ian HaytonChief Fire Officer Ian Hayton
Chief Fire Officer Ian Hayton

Cleveland Fire Brigade fire chiefs said 12 new posts are in the process of being appointed, the first time a full-time recruitment course has been carried out by Cleveland Fire Brigade since 2009, after government cuts halted hiring.

And the brigade is now holding a campaign to recruit more on-call and retained firefighters across the area.

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Chief fire officer Ian Hayton said: “On the wholetime staff, it is a one-off in relation to when we have the vacancies, we’ve just completed that, and we’re in the process of appointing 12 new firefighters.

“In reality that is the first time in 10 years, the last recruitment course we held was in 2009, and that relates to those financial figures.

“For those that are on-call or part time, and we have eight of those appliances scattered around the authority area, that is a continuous process of trying to attract people into the retained or on-call service and we’ve got a very large campaign we’re in now to try and recruit to that.”

He had previously said government grant cuts since 2011/12 had resulted in a 36% reduction in the workforce.

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Fire authority bosses said earlier this year increased fire authority council tax since 2013/14 had prevented the authority from having to make additional £2.4million savings and effectively enabled them to maintain 58 firefighter posts, 17% of the current number of firefighters.

Although this marks the first wholetime recruitment in years, fire chiefs said trainees who start with the fire brigade often progress to employment in the area.

The Cleveland Fire retained recruitment campaign is taking place throughout June and the brigade is offering candidates the opportunity to attend ‘recruitment roadshows’ at fire stations to find out more, including one at the Headland station in Hartlepool.

Retained firefighters must live within, and be able to respond and arrive within 5 minutes to the fire station and provide cover on a rotational call-out basis to the fire station situated at.

For more information and to apply visit www.clevelandfire.gov.uk/recruitment/retained/.