More Firefighters Needed In New Forest

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service is looking for people who want to become on call (retained) firefighters in the New Forest.

Successful applicants will get full training, gain new skills and get paid.

The hunt is on to find people to join the team at Brockenhurst Fire Station who are called to a wide variety of incidents including fires, road traffic collisions, animal rescue and water rescue. 

Recent weeks have seen the Brockenhurst crew involved in dealing with a fire at hotel and a variety of rescues; from someone stuck in mud on the forest to the rescue of someone from floodwater and attending road traffic collision - coming to the aid of a motorcyclist.

In addition the crew at Brockenhurst provide a vital co-responder service, delivering emergency medical intervention to the local area.

The Service is looking for people who work or live in the Brockenhurst area, who want to make a commitment to the community by joining the retained firefighters team.

New Forest Station Manager Mick Thompson explains: "Retained firefighters are a key part of the fire and rescue service in Hampshire and they come from a real cross section of our community. They are trained and paid, and do the same job as wholetime firefighters. 

"The team at Brockenhurst have recently achieved a beacon status award for the high level of service they provide."

"Being a retained firefighter is not just about attending incidents whenever you’re required, it’s about teamwork and helping the local community. These are ordinary people doing an extraordinary job.”

The station is currently looking to recruit new firefighters who are available during week days, this can be people who are employed locally and can be released to respond to incidents during their working day or those who can provide cover from home during the day and also weekends.

Retained applicants can be male or female but should live or work within about four minutes travel time from the fire station, enabling them to respond promptly to emergency calls. They are expected to attend training sessions one night per week. 

They receive a ‘retaining fee’ and additional payments are made for any courses or incidents they attend.

Mick added: "Brockenhurst train every Thursday evening from 7 pm, I would urge local people to come along to one of our training evenings to see if this exciting job would suit them. 

"Often people feel that they would not be suitable or cannot provide enough cover but if you don’t come along, you’ll never know! You could be just what we are looking for. 

"If you live or work within four minutes of the fire station and would like to find out more about joining the team that provides a vital service in your local community then come along and find out more. 

"There will be retained firefighters on hand to answer any questions and it will be a great opportunity to find out what the job involves."

Employers who are interested in finding out more are also welcome to attend these training evenings to see how they can assist by releasing staff and what benefits there are for business.

Interested? To find out more visit the station:

Brockenhurst Fire Station every Thursday between 7pm and 9pm.

Alternatively contact the Service’s Human Resources team on 023 8064 4000 or visit the website www.hantsfire.gov.uk/careerstraining.