Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service has welcomed 12 new on-call firefighters. The group will begin serving at stations around the county after completing their initial training course.
The group passed out on Sunday (March 17) and will be joining stations around the county as a firefighter around their work and home life.
Challenging yet rewarding opportunity
Group Commander Karl Bowden said: “We’re delighted to welcome these new recruits to the Service. Being an on-call firefighter is a challenging yet rewarding opportunity, and we wish them the very best as they start their journeys here in Cambridgeshire.”
We rely heavily on the continued support of on-call firefighters and their families up and down the county"
“The training course is challenging and these individuals have already demonstrated their outstanding commitment and dedication, not just to the fire service but to themselves and their communities. We rely heavily on the continued support of on-call firefighters and their families up and down the county, which is why it is so encouraging to see the latest group join us. ”
On-Call firefighters
On-call firefighters are trained professionals who respond to emergencies in their communities alongside their day-to-day lives. They may be at home, work or out and about when they receive a pager alert and straight away they must jump into action and get ready to deal with any incident.
The new recruits are now on-call at their stations after completing three months of training at the Service’s training centre in Huntingdon and will now be joining crews around the county.
- Burwell Fire Station - Peter Brown (31) will be joining the crew at Burwell responding from his job as a service manager.
- Chatteris Fire Station - Refrigeration and air-conditioning engineer Mark Street (27) joins the crew at Chatteris.
- Cottenham Fire Station - Jack Branton (25), who already works for CFRS in the business support group, adds to his duties by joining the crew at Cottenham.
- Manea Fire Station - Rhys Fenn (19) joins the crew at Manea in addition to his job as a bus and coach engineer.
- March Fire Station - IT engineer Chris Harrold (23) and prison officer Mark Peachey (50) will both be responding to emergency calls from March.
- Papworth Fire Station - CFRS ICT manager David Dawe (34) has added to his duties by joining the crew at Papworth.
- St Ives Fire Station - Service engineer Gerard Byrne (54) and carpenter David Bridgens (35) are both joining the crew at St Ives.
- Sawston Fire Station - Driver Matthew Stigwood (34) will be joining the crew at Sawston.
- Soham Fire Station - Recruitment consultant Mark Bridge (33) has started his firefighter journey at Soham.
- Wisbech Fire Station - Mark Evans (36), a factory operator is now an on-call firefighter at Wisbech.
On-call firefighters have to be aged 18 and over, have a good level of all-round fitness, and live or work within five minutes of traveling time of an on-call fire station.
