Urgent plea for new on-call firefighters in Shropshire
A fire service boss has issued an urgent plea for more people to become on-call firefighters.
The call has gone out for people in the north of the county to step forward and fill a number of on-call firefighter vacancies.
Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service needs to fill a number of vacancies at Prees Fire Station, as well as spaces for on-call day firefighters in Oswestry.
The service is involved in a national campaign to address the problem with recruiting on-call firefighters.
Minsterley and Albrighton are two other stations where the fire service is looking to recruit.
Neil Griffiths, group manager for the service, has issued a plea for people in communities across the county to come forward.
He said: “There are a number of stations where we want to recruit more officers. Prees is the main one, where there are only six on-call firefighters.
“We are always wanting to recruit, and Oswestry is another area where there is a need for on-call day firefighters.
“There are other stations where we need on-call firefighters, and what I would say to people looking at this or considering it is that you would be doing something to help your local community.
“There are a lot of benefits to coming forward and helping out, and I would appeal for people to step forward and help.”
Pager
A website has been set up nationally for people to put themselves forward for roles in the service, and can be accessed by going to oncallfire.uk.
The on-call role involves people who work in normal jobs carrying a pager and being called out to fire incidents when they are needed in the community.
There has been a decline in the number of on-call firefighters coming forward in recent years, as vacancies are on the rise.
Mr Griffiths added that he believed austerity may be down to the reason why people are not coming forward.
He said: “I think there are a number of reasons that come into it, one being austerity.
“People are having to go out of the county to work, or work longer hours because of it.
“Others want to spend more time with their families. So we would ask people to come forward, and if they are interested they can tweet me.”
To express an interest go to @SFRS_Griffiths on Twitter, or go to oncallfire.uk.
