MEET Ben, Charlie, Demi, Ian, Jack, Jacob, Kya, Mark, Randall and Richard…our county’s newest firefighters.
They’ve been welcomed into Essex County Fire and Rescue Service after completing their basic training course in Witham.
The new recruits all live or work within five minutes of an on-call fire station and will respond to incidents when paged.
They will be heading to Epping, Great Baddow, Ingatestone, Manningtree, Rochford, Thaxted and Wickford fire stations.
The team completed their two-week intensive training course in Witham and will continue their training at their home stations.
Firefighter Demi Ward, a lorry driver, will be joining Wickford Fire Station. She said:
“I’ve always wanted to be a firefighter, but I was never in the catchment area before. After I moved and saw the role come up on social media, I knew I had to go for it.
“Wickford is such a close-knit community, and being part of something that protects and supports that community, while finally doing something I’ve always wanted to do – means a lot to me.”
Firefighter Charlie Sutton is heading to Ingatestone Fire Station and works as a football coach by day.
He said: “For me, it’s about protecting my community. Through coaching I already work closely with people locally, and becoming a firefighter felt like another way I could step up and support them – especially in situations where people really need help and reassurance.”
More than three quarters of fire stations in Essex are staffed by on-call firefighters.
They all live or work within five minutes of the fire station and are paged when there is an incident. This means they can go about their daily business working or spending time in their community while helping to keep the fire station available when needed.
As well as responding to incidents, on-call firefighters also carry out home fire safety visits, attend community events and visit community hubs like schools and care homes to give safety advice.
If you live or work within five minutes of an on-call fire station, you could be paid to protect your community as an on-call firefighter.
