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 Brentwood, Hawkwell, Ingatestone, Newport, Ongar and South Woodham Ferrers fire stations.

The team completed their two-week intensive training course on Friday 15 November and will continue their training at their home stations. 

Firefighter Louis Boreham is heading to Hawkwell Fire Station. Louis’ dad was a firefighter at Hawkwell Fire Station which meant Louis spent a lot of his childhood at the station at events and spending time with his dad’s colleagues. For many years, on-call firefighters on station tried to convince him to apply when he was old enough. As soon as he turned 18 he submitted his application.

Louis said: “I’ve grown up at Hawkwell Fire Station and wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps. I was also a fire cadet and I’ve always wanted to help the community and help keep the area safe.”

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 by searching “Join Essex Fire” or visit essex-fire.gov.uk/join