The county’s fire service is calling for people in Askern, Rossington, Birley and Stocksbridge to step up and serve their communities as on-call firefighters.
After a hugely successful recruitment campaign in September, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue (SYFR) says three out of their seven on-call stations now have no vacancies.
But there are still spaces for on-call staff in Askern, Rossington, Birley and Stocksbridge, prompting the service to launch another recruitment push during March.
Anyone interested is urged to register their interest on the service’s website, here, with next steps then being sent out in due course.
“On-call firefighters are local people who live or work within five minutes of their stations – they are trained to the same standard as full-time firefighters but carry a pager when they are on-duty that alerts them if they are needed,” said SYFR Station Manager, Chris Tyler.
“We couldn’t have been more pleased after September’s campaign – filling the vacancies at four stations is quite the achievement – and we’re hoping to have more success with our final three stations during this next push.
“Being an on-call firefighter is a big commitment and the nature of the role means it takes an extraordinary person but our message is clear – if a small part of you thinks you can do it, you most likely can, and we’ll help you along the way.
“Should you be interested, even in the slightest, I’d encourage you to take a look at the information on our website and register your interest for more details.”
On-call firefighters are able to fit their duties around other work and family commitments – they get paid an annual ‘retainer fee’ and then get paid for each incident they attend.
They also get paid for any training and work done in the community. More information on the role and what it entails can be found here.
Those interested must live or work within a five minute drive of Askern, Rossington, Birley or Stocksbridge fire stations – with there potentially being a small bit of flexibility with this.