TWELVE new on-call firefighters have been welcomed into Essex County Fire and Rescue Service after completing their basic training course at Witham Fire Station.
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 West Mersea, Shoebury, Brentwood, Ongar, Ingatestone, Brightlingsea, Halstead, Great Baddow, Stansted and Tillingham fire stations.
The team completed their two-week intensive training course on Friday 30 January and will continue their training at their home stations.
Firefighter Louie Lark works as a tree surgeon during the day and will be going to West Mersea Fire Station.
He said: “Giving back to the community is something that was instilled in me from an early age. I will be the third generation of firefighters in my family, following in the footsteps of both my dad and grandad, who proudly served for Essex.”
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.
