Bridgnorth District Council have launched a joint initiative with Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service to boost recruitment of Firefighters in Bridgnorth. The District Council have agreed to allow its employees to join the towns' fire station and to respond to emergency incidents whilst at work.
Chief Fire Officer Alan Taylor said "We welcome the opportunity to work in partnership with the District Council. We have 28 fire appliances in Shropshire of which 23 are crewed entirely by men and women who work on the Retained Duty System; they must live or work within five minutes of their local Fire Station. The council offices at Westgate and Stanley Lane are ideally placed for council employees to reach Bridgnorth Fire Station within that time"
"The support of the council will assist us in our stated aim of putting Shropshire's safety first."
Bridgnorth District Council personnel manager Ian Gilbert said "We understand the recruiting issues faced by The Fire and Rescue Service in a rural area such as Bridgnorth and recognise as vital the role of Retained Duty System Firefighters.
We will be encouraging our employees to consider joining the Fire Service and will offer them all the support we can."
Bridgnorth Fire Station attends approx 300 emergency calls per year
It is staffed by men and women who work the Retained Duty System (RDS), they are people who have other jobs but respond to the station when paged
RDS personnel receive the same training as their full time colleagues and are paid the same hourly rate
