Firefighters do more than what their job title suggests; in addition to attending a wide variety of incidents ranging from fire to road traffic collisions, they also advise people on fire prevention, escape routes and hazards at home, in the community and in business. They visit schools, teach and work with children to raise awareness of dangers like fireworks and matches. And they work with businesses promoting safety initiatives and inspecting buildings to make sure they meet fire safety regulations.
Firefighters are a key part of the Fire Service, and here at Shropshire we have firefighters on two different shift patterns, as described below:
On-Call Firefighter
On-Call Firefighters (or Retained Firefighters) are individuals who do ordinary jobs and live or work within 5 minutes of their local fire station, offering daytime, evening and/or weekend cover. They are ready to go out to a call the moment a message comes through to their pager.
We are currently recruiting on-call Firefighters at various locations across Shropshire. For more information please visit this page.
Wholetime Firefighter
Stationed at Shrewsbury, Telford Central and Wellington fire stations, wholetime firefighters are divided into 4 watches (blue, green, red and white), providing year-round 24 hour fire cover. They work 42 hours a week with 2 day-shifts between 08:30-18:30 and 2 night-shifts between 18:30-08:30.
For more information please visit this page
Control Firefighter
The control room is staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by four watches of four fire control operators.
The main role of the fire control operators is to answer the emergency calls and decide what appliances need to be sent to each incident. Although the mobilising officer is in charge of this decision, each control operator needs to have a good knowledge of what to send, as the mobilising officer may be otherwise engaged during busy spells.
Other duties are carried out during periods when the Service is not responding to incidents.
