Women firefighters wanted

Women who live on the Shropshire side of the border towards Market Drayton have been invited to get a taste of life as a firefighter.

Women who wanted to find out about being firefighters could go along to a "taster day" to see what it is all about .

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service held the event yesterday at Oswestry Fire Station to encourage more women to become part time professional firefighters in the county.

Women firefighters talked to would-be recruits, who were given a tour of the fire station and shown the equipment used at a wide variety of incidents.

"We want to encourage women to look at becoming part time professional firefighters. There have been women firefighters in fire stations in Shropshire and across the UK for many years now but it is a career that many women just don't think about," said Laura Kavanagh-Jones, of Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service.

"So we wanted as many women as possible to come along and see what it is all about and discuss recruitment and career information."

80 per cent of Shropshire's firefighters' are "on call" which means when there's an emergency they are "bleeped" to attend the fire station. This means they have to live or work within five minutes of their local fire station. They turn out for duty at any time during their agreed on-call rotas.

"We provide training, support, promotion opportunities, excellent pay and conditions of service and a strong commitment to equality. If you want a rewarding career that is a little bit different then firefighting could be the job for you," added Laura.

Firefighters are physically fit and highly trained. They attend weekly training sessions to keep their skills up to date and are called out to deal with fires, floods, road traffic crashes, animal rescues, building collapses, and any other major incidents.

For more information about what the job entails visit the careers pages.

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