Joining the Fire Service

I know there are (or were) a couple of fire fighters on here and I am looking for advice for my son. He is currently in his last year of uni and is looking to join the service when he leaves.

Are there specific times of the year when they take on new intakes or is it a year round activity? Realistically, if he graduates say in May / June then when can he be looking to actually start? Also does anyone have hints or tips regarding volunteering etc.

I realise that the answers are probably out there on t’internet but I thought I’d seek advice direct from those who know.

TIA.

My lad wanted to join the fire service for years, studied public services at college etc… and is now in the police force!

Something put him off but I can’t really remember why the change of heart, I know the money was “unappealing” though he’s hardly rolling in dosh as a copper fir the first few years either. Of course, like so many careers, it’s not all about the money though.

Sorry, no help really!

The only thing I can add is that it’s very difficult to get a place, there are literally thousands after every vacancy.

Saying at, about 20 odd years ago, a friend of mine managed to get a place when he was in his early thirties.

He loved it.

gobuchul
Free Member
The only thing I can add is that it’s very difficult to get a place, there are literally thousands after every vacancy.

Now you mention it, I’m pretty sure that was one of the reasons my lad gave up on it, it became obvious he might have to work for years in other jobs before he got the chance.

As others have said there is a lot of competition for places. Some go down the route of On-call firefighting as some brigades do on-call to wholetime recruitment, which is less competitive. Also can get a good idea if the job is for him or not. On-call firefighting doesn’t pay the bills though but is a great job to have on the side, at a busy station I was earing £300-£600 a month on-call but less busy  stations might not get close to that.

Our local fire service post on Facebook so worth a follow. Also, most fire services are really proactive about engagement. I enquired some time back just at shift change and they couldn’t have been nicer. Set up some drill, lent me some kit and kicked up the fitness test. Had an interview lined up then had to back out due to pulling my back training for it a few weeks before.

There’s also a book about the process that was pretty helpful

I’d be advising that he goes into his local station and get talking to the team about all this. Prove willing, help out a bit if possible and see if that can be made as an ‘in road’?

Part of the fire service physical is the bleep test, listen to Joe marler podcast, things people do, he had a fireman on, v entertaining.

As a 24 year firefighter hopefully I can add a few steers.

Firstly he needs to be aware that the same physical standard that applies to him upon joining will be the same standard he has to achieve in his last years of the job, currently the pension is a 40 year scheme which means as a 60 ish year old he will need to have maintained that standard.

Secondly and hopefully something he already knows, the shifts are usually 2 days 2 nights and 4 off (3 clear days) they roll forward by a day so social life Sunday football are hard to do regularly as leave ( certainly in my service) is very difficult to get. He will need a very understanding partner due to this as it puts a lot of strain on relationships.

The money is ok, not great, you will never be well off and I’ve had several times where I’ve questioned why on earth I’m doing what I’m doing for the money. Especially on Christmas Day!

It is true that there are a lot of applicants for every job, there are a substantial percentage of those that are dreamers and don’t stand a chance and are living out a fireman Sam fantasy.

It was a long time since I passed the interview so my views/ thoughts etc are probably not going to help to join the modern fire service. There are lots of mock interviews and programs to assist in this area, I have heard that due to AI there is a review of how the application process is done.

IF there is an on-call station nearby that is an excellent way to try the job out and possibly pick up a temporary contract or even transfer across (rare).

Personally if I was trying to get in as a young person now I would apply to London and transfer out nearer to home asap, they take a huge number of people in annually as well as lots of them commuting from far and wide and staying up between nights etc.

The above sounds a bit negative and to be honest hand on heart I couldn’t recommend the job to someone. It’s dirty, snotty, uncomfortable and the conditions are worsening. There is a proven increased risk of cancers in firefighters and the obvious that it can at times be dangerous as well as traumatic. PTSD etc is unfortunately common.

I just think anyone joining should go in fully eyes open.

That said, I still love being a firefighter, I’m a crew manager so regularly decide and action the plans that sort the bad stuff that’s happening out and that gives me a buzz, I’m also a member of a technical rope rescue team and a USAR technician, I’ve been a driver operator for aerial appliances as well as many other clever bits of kit. I’ve been to Australia and jersey with work, I’m also a member of the international search and rescue which deploys to emergencies all over the world. So the job really can offer you experiences and opportunities like no other.

Al

Which area?  Does your lad live within 5 mins of a local station?

As has been mentioned, it definitely gives you an advantage if you do on call (retained) first, even if it’s just contacts and asking for advice.

Yes it’s difficult to get into, lots of competition for few places, that’s why any small advantage can help (such as knowing some of the firefighters/gaffers when you apply)

Happy to give some advice on application via PM (when the messaging function works of course!)

Cheers

As a 24 year firefighter hopefully I can add a few steers.

I read your post and thought ‘Shit – that’s a lot of experience and responsibility for a 24 yr old’. Then I re-read it. ?

Ex firefighter here, not much to add to the above, but just to reiterate contacting your local whole time fire station for advice, and if you are close to an on call station, consider joining that.  Don’t worry too much about how far away you are, some of them are really desperate and willing to bend/blur the rules.

Ff for 25 years here. Off to the gym in a min so will add more later but he’s welcome to come to Harrogate and have a chat with my watch if he wants?

A friend’s son has just got his induction day to pass then his course will start in Feb. He applied in August I think, first round is Artic Shores online testing. Pass this then the physical, pass that then the interview and if successful then it is the induction day where you do drills etc. This is Essex by the way, there maybe variation between services.

I’d advise your son to speak to his local firefighters and gain as much insight as possible. My brother loved his time as a firefighter but my friend’s husband has PTSD as a result of his career experiences as Lummox mentioned.

My dad was a fireman at BP (hull) and then retrained with the north Yorks fire brigade, starting about 2000. He retired early due to poor health; a mix of physical and mental. I don’t recall meeting any firefighters at retirement age; suggesting that they left or transferred to desk roles.

He spent the first year sleeping at the station overnight when on shift, returning to Hull when off shift. We moved up to the town where his station was once his training was complete and the school year was over.

He managed to get onto the training at an older age (30yrs?) due to military service and some limited experience at BP. Perhaps sign your kid up for the navy or for commercial firefighter jobs first?

All I would add to the suggestions above, is that a large part of your role will involve community engagement when not training for, or attending incidents. This will mainly be with the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in your community. So when it comes to the interview or even the application sifting, having evidence of doing some volunteer work in this area will be a bonus.

My uncle was an area commander in the fire service and he retired at 55. He’s told me one of the reasons he did retire early was being pressured to reject candidates that he saw as being the most suitable for the job in order to diversify the crews he was responsible for (basically we need anything but more young white heterosexual men), this was around 15 years ago.  My cousin (his son, who was all of the above ) managed to get a place straight from leaving the army after his dad had retired and has just been promoted to watch commander

29 yrs service. retired as Watch Manager  4 yrs ago.

Straight out of uni… what was he studying ? By all means apply but get a bit of life experience actually working in the big bad world using his uni degree , I’ve seen too many through the yrs from uni/higher education unable to work within a team as they’ve never had that exposure.  Many also struggle with the shifts as mentioned above. I’ve lost count of the family birthday’s, events and Xmas’s  I’ve missed due to having to work the rota

Its not all squirting water at fires and rescuing cats from trees, the role is now more fire prevention (turkeys voting for Christmas)  time spent in the communities educating them.  Lots of down time also, many in the FS treat it as a  PT job  (tradespeople) Fire service humour can be very dark at times particularly after stressful incident, some just don’t get it and the pranks are part of life.

Career progression is good, I managed to wing my way up as far as I wanted to go primarily for the pension and I didn’t want to lugging a BA set on my back at 55,  retirement  age is now 60. It used to be a job for life but latterly new recruits only stayed 10yrs if that some due to the lowish pay and others boredom or using it as a stepping stone as it looks good on CV that you’ve been in FS.

All the FS’s are now financially  strapped for cash, I’m not hearing good things currently about my old service, Scottish Fire Rescue everything cut to bare bone station closures  and morale is at an all time low.

Its not all blue lights and sirens

A post from someone who I went to training school at with Gullane

“It was hard but it let you know what you could do if you really pushed yourself.
I remember visiting the Scottish Fire Service College at Gullane to carry out training about twenty years after I was a trainee. I looked out the window of the first floor of the old building and noticed all the trainees in their squads- but they all had one seat beside each squad. I asked a colleague who worked there what the seats were for and he sighed and said- “it’s in case the trainees get tired and want a seat”
I laughed until I realised he meant it and it wasn’t a wind up.
Changed days.”

the navy or for commercial firefighter jobs first?

Don’t forget the RAF and Army fire services, more travel opportunities.

I’m a whole time firefighter in London and also an on call firefighter in my local county brigade on my days off. First off it’s not the job that it used to be, certainly not the job that I joined 24 years a go and I’m not sure I would join today if I was just starting out in my career, that said it’s not a bad way to earn a living but the ‘jobs’ just don’t happen as often as they used to, which I suppose shows that the preventative work that we do is largely effective, however that work can at times be frustrating as we often feel like second rate smoke alarm fitters and third rate social workers!

Doing on call work isn’t necessarily a backdoor to a wholetime job either, the brigade i do on call for often offer fixed term contracts to cover maternity leave or long term sickness so that they can cover a position without having to employ someone full time, and it rarely leads to a wholetime contract and you would need to complete your probation first and at an on call station that can take a couple of years.

London does I believe (we don’t see the campaigns at stations) recruit quite often, when we’re not poaching off of other Brigades, and as I understand it a lot of the recruitment process after eligibility and fitness involves interviews around “Personal qualities and attributes” or PQA’s  which will be about providing examples of previous experience of working in teams, assisting colleagues, confronting bullying etc. and also quite a lot of equalities, diversity and inclusion (EDI), it’s this area that a lot of younger people straight out of education seem to struggle with as they don’t have a broad enough experience of the work place.

Also worth bearing in mind that pension changes a few years a go have totally changed the way the pension works, as mentioned above it’s now 40 years service to get a full pension and with a retirement age of 60 that means starting at 20, I doubt many people will be getting a full pension in the future, and if you were cynical you might say that that was the plan! And whilst it’s still worthwhile due to employers contributions it’s important to know that if you leave before you can claim it you can’t transfer the pot to another pension, it’s just frozen until state pension age.

Whilst I don’t regret a single day of my service if my daughter who is just finishing her degree wanted to join I’d strongly discourage her, it’s not a job you need a degree for and to me seems a waste of 3 years education and £50K of debt, I’m sure there are better careers for graduates out there.