Six new firefighters welcomed into fire service
Six new on-call firefighters have been welcomed into Essex County Fire and Rescue Service after completing their basic training course 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 Brightlingsea, Canvey, Corringham, Epping and Wickford fire stations.
The team completed their two-week intensive training course on Friday 18 October and will continue their training at their home stations.
Firefighter Steve Padian is heading to Epping Fire Station after seeing a local advert for on-call firefighters.
He said: “I wanted to do something more worthwhile and I’m looking forward to giving more value to the community.”
Could you be an on-call firefighter?
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.
