The Retained Firefighter

Joining the Service as a retained firefighter offers a wealth of opportunity to work for the Service on a part time basis. It is an exciting and hugely rewarding job where you'll become a crucial member of a highly trained and tight-knit team.

Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service's Retained Staff are a group of women and men who, in addition to their normal jobs or careers, are on-call in their free time or respond to emergency calls from their full-time place of employment.

Local emergency services form an important part of our community. Firefighters do a whole range of jobs from attending fires to helping at all sorts of incidents. As a member of our retained fire service you might be called to floods, road accidents or chemical spills. When an emergency happens, wouldn't you like to be able to help your friends and neighbours in a very real and practical way?

And you'd get paid for doing it too.

To apply to join the service you don't need any paper qualifications. But you will need to:
• Work or live within five minutes of a fire station
• Be physically and medically fit
• Have good eyesight (unfortunately we may not be able to accept colour-blind applicants)
• Have good hearing
• Have a real interest in the fire service and helping the community of Gloucestershire.

Personal Qualities
Your personal qualities are important to us. We are looking for enthusiastic women and men from all walks or life, with the common sense, compassion, tact and demeanour to deal with physically and emotionally demanding situations. You will also need to have the ability to work as part of a team.

Rewards
You will be paid a retaining fee to be available for duty starting on a trainee rate of £1,992 per annum rising to £2,655 per annum when fully competent in the role (it can take 4 years to reach this stage).

You will also be paid for each incident you attend, and to attend weekly training sessions. Your uniform and protective equipment will be provided free of charge.

Practical Tests
Shortlisted applicants will be invited to undergo a series of practical and written exercises designed to assess the skills and attributes needed to join the Fire Service. Practical tests will include ascending a ladder - to assess confidence in working at heights, and working in a darkened and/or confined area - to assess any claustrophobic tendencies. Some strength and fitness tests will also be included at this stage. Fitness tests will include undertaking a bleep test.

Interview
Applicants reaching this stage will then be invited to attend for interview, during which they will be assessed on their skills and experience.

Background Enquiries
References will be obtained at this stage. Whilst we will only contact your current employer with your permission, you should be aware that if you intend to respond to fire calls during working hours, your employer's consent will be required.

Medical Assessment
The Brigade's Medical Advisor will conduct all medical assessments. Medical assessments include tests of the percentage of body fat, eyesight, hearing, lung function, urine, and blood pressure. A 'Chester Step Test' will also be used to assess your aerobic fitness.

Advertising
When recruiting we advertise in the area of the fire station, through posters and leaflet drops. However, if you are interested then email our Personnel Team