‘GO for it, it is the best job in the world’ is the inspirational message from a Comber firefighter as a new recruitment campaign is launched.
If helping local people during their darkest hours, learning new skills and enjoying a sense of camaraderie all sound like your cup of tea, then the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) wants to hear from you.
Hailed as the backbone of the fireservice, on-call firefighters manage their life saving duties alongside their full-time jobs and family commitments.
From tackling wild fires in the Mourne Mountains, to rescuing a trapped puppy in a reclining sofa, no two working days are the same.
The ‘Your Town, Your Team, Your NIFRS’ campaign is aimed at those who live or work within five minutes of their local on-call fire station, who want to make a difference in their community.
The NIFRS is recruiting on-call firefighters across 26 fire stations, including Comber and Holywood, with information evenings being held in every recruiting station throughout the duration of the three week campaign.
Information evenings are being held in Comber on Thursday, March 5 and Thursday, March 12, when aspiring firefighters can learn more about the role and the commitment involved.
They can also speak directly to the crew at the fire station and find out more about the physical aspects of the job, the training provided and the application process.
Danny Dickson, Comber’s Watch Commander and Scott Bryan, the Crew Commander, boast 25 years service between them, and for them, it is a privilege to serve their local community.
The Comber ‘crew’ is made up of nine men and two women.
A maintenance engineer by day, Watch Commander Dickson spoke of the high points of his firefighting career.
“One of the highlights is the sense of achievement and purpose of helping people in your own community,” he said.
“You are giving something back to the community without having to give up your day job. We work together as a team and there is a good sense of camaraderie. If you live or work locally and want a role with purpose, team work and making a real impact, then being an on-call firefighter could be for you.”
Danny explained that his 20 year career began from an open night.
“My friend was an on-call firefighter and thought it might be something that I would enjoy. So I came along to the open night, filled in the form and 20 years later I am still here,” he said.
“You get to help people in your local community that are having their worst day, you get to stabilise it and make it better.”
“We carry out fire safety visits, fit smoke alarms and give fire safety advice to local groups. We also attend a wide range of operational calls from house fires to road traffic collisions and animal rescues. In the summer we attended a lot of wildfire incidents in the Mournes.”
He urged anyone interested to come along to the open evenings and apply.
“This is an amazing opportunity to apply to the Fire Service,” he said. “You will complete initial training held at our state of the art facilities in Cookstown and after this you are put on the run and allowed to go on operational calls.”
Crew Commander Scott Bryan serves his local community as manager of Comber Leisure Centre and as an on-call firefighter, a post he has held for the past five years.
Mr Bryan said he is passionate
about serving the community, that’s why he likes his job with the council and why the fire service appealed to him.
“It is a rewarding job,” he said. “I am quite a practical, hands-on person and I like to give back.”
“Being a firefighter is a role to be proud of and it is good to share what we do. I like to go around all the community events and share what we do with young people and teenagers. One of my highlights is giving back, it is very rewarding that way.”
Another favourite aspect of his firefighting role is animal rescue. “We once saved a puppy which had got stuck in the mechanism of a recliner. We had to destroy the lady’s nice sofa but we got the puppy out.”
He added: “Being rural, if a horse
has maybe had a fall we would work with the heavy animal rescue team, who are the experts and we are
there to assist them. You get to learn all sorts of skills and do all sorts of things that you would never do normally.”
Encouraging local men and women to pursue their firefighting dreams, Mr Bryan said: “Absolutely, go for it. It is the best job in the world, the skills you get, the people you meet, the puzzles you solve, there is no other job like it in the world.”
