Our on-call firefighters describe their journey into the Fire Service
Elaine Timmis
After nine years as an on-call firefighter, Elaine Timmis has had no cause to back-track on her reason for joining the service.
“If I’m totally honest, I joined up because I thought it sounded as if it would be fun,” said the 31-year-old, who is based at the Baschurch station. “And it definitely has been.” Elaine comes from a farming family and has a busy role to play within the business. “We have a farm shop and café which I run,” she said. “And I also assist in running our new sporting venture – the only polo club in Shropshire. “It’s not been a problem balancing my work life and being an on-call firefighter. “If we are short-staffed, then my business has to come first and sometimes I have to book more time off than I would like to, but generally it works very well.”
Elaine says that she gets called out perhaps 10-15 times each month and the reality of life as an on-call firefighter was quickly brought home on one of her early ‘shouts’.
“We were outside a building that was on fire and the officer in charge said to one of my colleagues whom I had trained with: ‘Get that hose in the doorway – we have to get those people out of there as soon as possible’. That really brought home to me how serious it can be.” Elaine has been surprised by the wide variation in the jobs she has attended and acknowledges that her firefighting role has changed her as a person. “It teaches you a calm and methodical way of dealing with things and I find that I can bring those skills into my workplace,” she said. “I have found it really rewarding and I see it as a way of putting something back into the community. I would certainly recommend it, although it can be a big commitment.”
Her day job has helped Elaine keep up with the fitness requirements of the service. “My job is very active and I spend time riding the horses at the polo club which helps to keep me fit,” she said. “I’m in a netball team and I also went to a boot camp – I much prefer to be fit. “I get great support from my family – they always ask what has been happening after I have been out on a call.”
Carly Woodman
With two children aged two and four, mum Carly Woodman certainly has her hands full but she still finds the time to serve her community as an on-call firefighter.
“I used to drive past the ‘firefighters needed’ sign and thought that, after the birth of my second child, it was now or never if I was going to do it,” said the 37-year-old. “If I had waited for the children to grow up a little, it could have been another five or ten years. I didn’t want to go back to the job that I had been doing before and I thought being an on-call firefighter would be something exciting to do and a little bit out of the ordinary. When your alerter goes off, you never know exactly what it is you are going to be doing.”
Carly joined the crew at Albrighton in February 2017 and fits in 12 hours a week working in a local shop alongside being a mum and a firefighter.
“I have a great support group and I couldn’t do it without them,” she said. “The boys go to nursery a couple of days a week, my husband looks after them for a day and my dad looks after them for half a day. They both help out at the weekends, too. We get called out around 100 times each year but some weeks you might get called three times and then go weeks without a call at all. One of the most memorable calls I can remember is when we rescued a dog from a house – a pan had been left on the stove and the house was smoke-logged. We smashed the door down and discovered the dog hiding, terrified in an upstairs cupboard. I’m a big animal lover so that was very satisfying.”
The variety of different tasks involved in her on-call role has surprised Carly.
“It’s not just putting out fires, there is a lot more involved,” she said. “I get involved with community fire safety and I really enjoy that side of it. That was something I knew nothing about until I joined up – there are lots of avenues to go down.” Carly, who is able to keep up to scratch with the service’s fitness requirements with moderate exercise and by eating healthily, says that being an on-call firefighter is something that she would fully recommend.
“It is a job for life,” she said. “It’s a big responsibility but the rewards are great, I get excitement out of responding to incidents knowing that I can help people within my community. It also lets me leave the ‘Mum’ title behind for a while.”
Steve Breese
Steve Breese is one of just two Police Community Support Officers who double up as on-call firefighters in Shropshire. The 36-year-old, who has served with West Mercia Police for 11 years, has just completed his third year in the twin roles.
“It’s part of a pilot programme with West Mercia Police and it seemed like a great opportunity to work with both services,” he said. Steve, in fact, has a ‘double dual’ role as, within SFRS, he serves with Albrighton during his working day and is then attached to Wellington in his spare time. “Albrighton is quite a quiet station so I tend to get more shouts at Wellington,” he said. “A lot of the calls at Albrighton are automatic fire alarms but I had to attend a fatal road traffic collision which is something I shall remember.”
Steve said that he has not experienced any problems in combining the two roles nor in meeting the fire service fitness requirements. He would have no hesitation in recommending to anyone to become an on-call firefighter.
“In a village like Albrighton, it is a huge asset to have on-call firefighters as it would take a further 10 minutes for crews to get here from Telford,” he said. “I also find it is socially good, too – our training nights are on a Wednesday and the training is very enjoyable. The level of commitment required as an on-call firefighter surprised me – 84 hours is a big commitment to fit in with your day-to-day life. There does seem to be a different attitude to firefighters compared with the way people treat police officers. Firefighters are seen as approachable and I often get people coming up to ask me questions. But some people who know me as a PCSO don’t recognise me when they see me in my firefighters’ uniform.”