Drive to boost number of on-call firefighters

'FRAGILE’ COVER BY PART-TIMERS IN SOME AREAS OF COUNTY

- By JOE LOCKER

Firefighters at the scene of a fire in Bulwell

A BIG recruitment drive is being planned to boost the number of “integral” on-call firefighters in Nottinghamshire after a big drop during the last decade.

According to figures published by the Government in December, the total number of firefighters across the country has declined by 14% in the past 10 years. The Government says this was primarily driven by a 26 per cent decrease in on-call firefighters, compared to a 9.4 per cent decrease in whole-time firefighters.

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS) states that on-call firefighters are an “integral” part of the service, with 16 out of the 24 fire stations employing them.

The majority of Nottinghamshire’s 30 fire appliances are also crewed by on-call firefighters.

They typically have other jobs and must be available to respond to an emergency when a personal alert device activates when they are on-call.