Ever dreamed of being a fire fighter?

Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service are currently recruiting to Shipston Fire station. Town councillor, Dan Scobie, was recently invited to spend an evening at the fire station with Watch Commander, Mike Jones and his crew, to find out what’s involved and the challenges the Service faces to recruit retained firefighters.

“We’re looking to recruit firefighters that live or work in Shipston who can be on standby for anything from 40 to 120 hours per week” Mike explained. “Currently we’re relying on cover from outside of Shipston, so we need to recruit more firefighters from within the community”.

“We have a crew of 8 at the moment, which means we’ve got at least 4 vacancies we need to fill.  We take people from 18 and there is no upper age limit, you just need to be fit and healthy and ready to respond to the call” Mike added. 

Warwickshire Fire and Rescue offers a high standard of training to all recruits, which includes first aid training and First Person on Scene.  As well as being able to fight fires, retained firefighters are a real asset to the community, and have been called on to provide valuable first aid while waiting for paramedics to arrive.

Retained firefighters need to live or work close to Shipston Fire Station. For more information on being a retained firefighter log onto http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/beextraordinary 

Alternatively call Leeanna Kostka on (01926) 852223.