Service is poised
Crieff Fire Station has been blazing a trail in terms of keeping the community safe for decades.
The majority of its crew is made up of retained firefighters who live and work locally and are ready to respond to incidents at a moment’s notice.
And now the team is looking for five new recruits to join its ranks.
Men and women living and working in the Strath capital are invited to apply.
No specific skills are required to be a retained firefighter as comprehensive training is provided for successful applicants.
On- call firefighters work in a variety of jobs, and bring a wide range of skills to the team.
Crieff Fire Station Crew Commander Mark Torrens said being a firefighter is very rewarding.
The 31 year- old told the Herald: “We are looking for people that work and live in the town who want to set themselves new challenges, who maintain a good level of fitness and who want to give something back to the community.
“We currently have 15 retained firefighters in Crieff but we could use another five.
“We are really looking for people that are available during the day.
“There is no upper age limit. The majority are made up of tradesmen but we would like to get people from all professions.
“The amount of call-outs varies – we have been quite busy recently, but some weeks we might not get any calls at all.
“In the last couple of weeks we have cut someone out of a car, we’ve had a large animal rescue and a fire in Auchterarder, so we attend a wide variety of incidents.”
Problem-solving exercises, first aid, water awareness and river rescue drills – as well as joint exercises with colleagues in the other emergency services – are just some of the training activities undertaken by retained firefighters.
Crew Commander Torrens continued: “It is a great opportunity for someone who wants a new challenge or who wants to learn and develop new skills.
“For me personally, I’ve got my HGV licence out of it so I’m building up my skills.
“Training commitments are every Thursday from 7pm to 9pm, although because of Covid at the moment some are also training on a Tuesday to maintain social distancing requirements.
“We also do maintenance once a month.”
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is looking for people who can respond to incidents within and outwith their normal working hours.
As well as attending incidents, Crieff Fire Station carries out continuous training, attends open days and promotes safety initiatives within the community.
For more information, contact Mark by sending an email to mark. torrens@ firescotland.gov.uk