From On-Call to Wholetime Firefighter

For Georgia, firefighting has always been close to home. Her grandad served as a firefighter for 25 years, and throughout her childhood he passed on knowledge and stories that shaped her view of the fire service. Inspired by his legacy, Georgia set her sights on becoming a firefighter herself.

From a young age I set my sights on becoming a firefighter in order to help people, whether that be rescuing them from a fire, fitting smoke alarms, carrying out fire safety talks or conducting safe and well visits.”

Her journey began when she visited her local fire station, where the crew were hosting an open evening for on-call recruitment. She was welcomed with a tour, an explanation of the recruitment process, and even the chance to hold some of the equipment. She admits that one of her early worries was whether she’d be strong enough- but that evening gave her the confidence to believe she could.

Determined to be ready, she started training, following the 12-week fitness programme and tailoring her workouts to match the demands of the role. Her preparation paid off. Georgia passed each stage of the recruitment process and soon began her training course at the Service Development Centre, where she built the skills needed to face every eventuality.

She thrived as an on-call firefighter at Ashfield, but her ambition didn’t stop there. When wholetime recruitment opened, she applied and was successful. Today, Georgia proudly serves as a wholetime firefighter at Mansfield Fire Station. “I now have my dream job,” she says, “working with two fantastic teams and eager to see where my career in NFRS takes me.”

Now firmly established at Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, Georgia says it’s impossible to choose just one favourite aspect of the role. She loves the variety of incidents, the chance to deliver education in schools and communities, and the time spent with colleagues who have become like family. But above all, the most rewarding part is knowing that firefighters can bring relief in someone’s darkest hour.

For me, the most rewarding part of being a firefighter is that we can turn up on the worst day of people’s lives and make it that little bit better. In my opinion, it’s the best job in the world.”

Her advice to anyone thinking of applying is to believe in yourself, even if you’re not successful the first time, the experience itself is valuable preparation for the next opportunity. She urges aspiring firefighters to use the wealth of resources available which can be found on the NFRS website.

“Once I took that first step, I immediately knew that I had found my lifelong career, and I was going to do everything in my power to be successful.”

Watch our inspirational case studies with more of our team to discover their different journeys into NFRS.