Chance to sign up for a new look fire service

THE fire service is offering potential full and part-time recruits a chance to try the skills they will need for the job.

Taster events will show candidates what the job entails, including fitness levels, and offer a chance to talk to firefighters about how they find the job.

The events will include one day for women only, on October 6, and another solely for people from a black, Asian or other minority ethnic (BAME) background, those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT+) or those who have certain disabilities such as dyslexia or dyspraxia.

There will also be taster days for oncall firefightrers.

Rick Taylor, Chief Fire and Rescue Officer, said: “We all know our workforce is not representative of the multicultural and diverse communities we serve.

“In order to begin to reflect our diverse communities, we will focus our recruitment campaign on encouraging applications from underrepresented groups, including women, black and minority ethnic and our LGBT+ communities.

“To help, we will be holding a number of ‘have a go’ days to allow members of our communities from the under-represented groups to come forward and have a go at being a firefighter, which will hopefully encourage them to apply for the role in the future.

“Doing this will not preclude applications from white British males. Every successful applicant will be judged on their merit. There will be no bias in favour of any particular group or individual.”

Mr Taylor said on-call firefighters were needed in Wigston, Market Harborough, Coalville, Hinckley, Ashby, Uppingham, Oakham and Billesdon.

“On-call firefighters play a vital role and they help us provide the very best service to the communities we serve,” he said.

“We hope to encourage members of our communities to come forward, find out more about being an on-call firefighter and ultimately apply for a role.

“This is a real opportunity for people looking for a rewarding job where they are also giving something back.”

On-call firefighters need to be fit and strong enough to carry and work with the equipment and the taster days will give potential applicants a chance to find out if they can meet the physical demands.

They need to live within four to six minutes of the station, depending on the location they wish to work at.

The on-call crew members carry a beeper and respond to emergency calls. They get paid for the time they are on-call and for incidents they respond to.

The closing date for applications is October 10. For more information, see:

leicestershire-fire.gov.uk/recruitment