Role

As a firefighter no day is the same, and your role will be much more than just dealing with fires.

You will play a key part in keeping people safe, both at incidents and in the community.

What our firefighters do can be split into three main areas:

Preventing fires and incidents

You'll be working in the local community to check people are safe from fire in their homes by delivering Safe and Well visits, educating children and attending community events alongside our Prevention and Education teams.

Protecting businesses

Fire crews support the work of our Fire Protection team in keeping businesses safe from fire. On your shift you could be checking a business is fire safe or giving advice to business owners alongside one of our Fire Safety Inspectors.

Responding to incidents

We'll give you the skills and training to deal with everything from minor bin fires, rapidly developing house fires, chemical incidents, rescues from height and water, road traffic collisions between vehicles of varying sizes, and generally any situation where somebody in danger needs rescuing, even animals.

Our crews also provide assistance when bad weather hits and help with things such as flooding - as well as providing medical assistance when required.

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Firefighters train hard, not only in their initial training but during each shift, to ensure that they are ready to respond to an incident whenever needed.

Once trained to the level of a competent firefighter, our staff also have the opportunity to progress into supervisory and managerial roles. You never know - you could even be a future Chief Fire Officer.

Here is Charlotte, a wholetime firefighter with us. Watch this video below to see what she got up to on a day shift at Arnold Fire Station.

Firefighting - is it for me?

Life as a firefighter can be incredibly rewarding, thrilling, and exciting. You will be well respected and well-integrated into the local community, you will be a role model for the younger generations, you will be helping people often in their time of greatest need, you will be keeping your communities safe and you will become a real-life superhero.

Don't believe us? Take a look at what our staff have got to say on our 'Case Studies' page.

But...

Life as a firefighter can also be tough. It can be physically and mentally challenging and will undoubtedly push you to your limits and test you as you've never been tested before.

You will need mental strength to deal with highly stressful and tragic situations in a professional and constructive manner. You will be required to work shifts that include nights, evenings, weekends, and public holidays - including Christmas and New Year.

You will need stamina, motivation, and sheer determination to keep you going as you search through bricks and rubble, for hours on end, and you will have to be willing and ready to work outdoors, potentially for long periods of time, in all weather conditions. This can include tackling a hot grass fire in the height of summer, or being called out to deal with a road traffic collision at 3 am on a freezing-cold winter's night...

Still interested? Good! Regardless of the challenges, many still say that being a firefighter is the best job in the world. Take a look at our 'How To Apply' page - we look forward to hearing from you.