Meet Essex Fire’s newest firefighters

Let’s all join Essex County Fire and Rescue Service in welcoming four new on-call firefighters after they completed their basic training course in Witham this week.

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 Canvey, Frinton, Sible Hedingham and West Mersea fire stations.

The team completed their two-week intensive training course on Friday 21 June and will continue their training at their home stations. 

They all have busy careers outside of the fire service as an electrician, a tree surgeon, in fire protection and as an outdoor sports instructor and will be giving their free time to help keep their communities safe.

Firefighter Asa Yaxley is heading to Sible Hedingham Fire Station after moving to the  town and seeing a recruitment banner at the fire station.

He said: “I moved into the village, saw the banner and I thought it would be a good thing to do for the local community. I’ve always thought about being on-call but never lived close enough to a station, but it’s all fallen into the place and here I am.” 

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. 

Find out more o/node/16300.