Service that must not be lost

9:24am Wednesday 22nd August 2007

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FALMOUTH Fire Station could not function properly without the support of its retained firefighters - that was the clear message coming from the station when Packet reporter Gavin Harlow went to see what it takes to be a retained firefighter.

Retained fire crews are equipped with the same kit, vehicles and equipment as a full-time crew and can be called upon to attend the same range of incidents as their full-time counterparts at any time of day or night.

Being on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week may not be everyone's idea of the perfect job but for the crew at Falmouth, there is nothing better.

Sub officer, Nigel Philpott said: "We all have pagers and can be called out at any minute. We live within four minutes of the station as we have to respond quickly when you think that fire can develop at one metre a minute."

There are currently 16 retained firefighters at Falmouth and they cover one of the two pumps at the station. This allows guarantees six crew members at any one time to man an engine.

But the retained firefighters also have full-time jobs, usually with an agreement with their employers to allow them to leave work in the event of an emergency.

Sub officer Philpott said: "We must commit to 75 per cent of the shouts but it is getting extremely hard for us to commit to the service as people get promoted in their day jobs and are being given more responsibility. I actually work in Helston and I can not respond to shouts during the day anymore, but we always cover for each other to make sure that six men are here to man a pump if needed.

"At the moment we can guarantee to get both pumps out, but the cuts to the fire service go ahead we will not get the second pump out."

Answering critics, who claim that retained firefighters are not as well trained as the full-time crews, Sub officer Philpott said: "We go through exactly the same training as the full-time firefighters, we can deal with road traffic collisions, breathing apparatus, hot fire fighting, which we train for at RAF Portreath, ship firefighting, water rescue and much more. We are as able as the other firefighters."

In fact they are capable of more. The retained crew have recently been trained to use a new power boat, with four of their crew now being fully trained coxswains. Something the full-time crews have not been trained in.

Retained firefighter Charlie Philpott, said: "With the boat we can now respond to incidents which are not as accessible from the road but can be from the water. We can support the full-time crews and provide a quicker response."

Being a retained crew means that the firefighters can potentially be called out to all of the emergency calls, whereas the full-time crews will only respond to calls during their shifts.

Often the retained crews will be called in to man the operations room at the station when the full-time crews are responding to major incidents.

Sub officer Martyn Addinall, a full-time firefighter, said: "When we go to a two pump incident we know that the retained firefighters are there and providing support. We work as one big team and that is very important. If we don't have that support who knows what could happen.

"We simply could not do our job without them. If the cuts go ahead we will become a first class fire service with a third class fire cover."

Frank Gendall, who has had 29-years in the fire service, said: "When we go on shouts we are glad to see these boys come up behind us. They do a great job and we all work together."

Ian Butler, an engineer by day and a retained firefighter explained why he took on the job. He said: "It is nice to be able to give something back to the community and what better way to do that than be a firefighter. There is nothing like it and you do get an amazing adrenaline rush from it too."

With farmers, builders, engineers, teacher and a police community support officer among the ranks, getting replacements is not easy.

Sub officer Nigel Philpott said: "Previously we have had over 50 applicants for one position in the retained, but recently we had a position come up and we only had four people apply.

"It is simply because of the criteria, not many employees will let people leave their work at such short notice.

"If the cuts go ahead, the station will be run by retained officers, but I can tell you now that they will struggle to find them."

If anyone is interested in becoming a retained fire fighter they can contact Falmouth Fire Station on 01326 212412