Hello, I’m Mary, I’m a mother of two and work in an office in my
local village and also as a Retained Firefighter in the village
too! This means that I carry a pager with me and when it goes off,
I go to the fire station and answer the emergency call with the
rest of the crew - so we get rigged in fire kit and go out on the
pump (fire appliance) to deal with the incident.
I’m so lucky to have an understanding boss who is happy for me
to answer fire calls from work. My friend’s husband is a
retained firefighter in a different village and it was his
suggestion that I join. It’s so rewarding being able to serve
my community!
I’ve been retained now for six years and hold the rank of Crew
Manager, which means I’m second in charge of our crew and
assist the Officer in charge (Watch Manager) with the planning,
running and recording of our fire service activities.
When the Watch Manager isn’t available, I go out in charge of the
pump and the crew.
My station attended around 140 calls last year and I went to 97 of
those. That’s because some of our crew are on call 24 hrs a day, 7
days a week, others like me are only on call for a specified
number of hours each month, but between us, we always ensure
that a crew is available.
We attend a two-hour training session at the station one
evening each week to develop our skills through lectures and
practical training sessions to ensure that we give the very best
service. We get paid an annual retaining fee, and paid for
each training session and every time we answer an emergency
call.
We often work with crews from neighbouring villages and also
full-time crews from the larger towns.
Last week my pager went off mid-morning while I was at work; we
were called out to a house fire which involved the thatched
roof. These can be tricky jobs as thatch repels the water, so
we have to make gaps in the thatch to try to stop the fire
spreading.
This job was no exception, it had started in the chimney but spread
to the roof! There were 6 pumps there in the end because it was a
big house. We were the third pump to arrive and, as the
initial crews were dealing with the fire, we were able to go inside
to start removing possessions from upstairs, in case the fire
spread. As more crews arrived, we had to set about tackling the
fire and even had to pump water from a nearby pond onto it!
The owners were very distressed and I was able to keep them
informed all the time as to what we were doing, as well as gain
valuable information from them about where the gas &
electricity intakes were to reduce risks to the firefighters. They
had a dog which had hidden in a room which we were able to find and
re-unite it with its owners.
We saved around 45% of the roof and most of the upstairs contents
were brought out undamaged. The gap that was left in the roof was
covered with a protective sheet to stop weather damage.
I was able to arrange a return visit to the couple as one of them
was disabled and I felt they would really benefit from some extra
fire safety advice.
That’s another part of the job I really love, not only dealing with
emergencies, but preventing them too. It’s an increasing part of
our role now to reduce fires, fire injuries and even promote road
safety.
It just goes to show, there’s more than one way to save a
life!