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A brief explanation of my second job: (Taken from www. fireservice.co.uk )
Retained firefighters are a vital part of today’s Fire and Rescue Service. They provide an efficient, cost effective and reliable service that provides emergency cover to more than 60% of the UK. Unfortunately, the majority of the general public are not aware that Retained firefighters exist, let alone that their local fire station is a Retained station.
The retained part of the Fire and Rescue Service is a group of men and women who are ‘on call’ to respond to a range of emergencies when their alerter / bleeper sounds. The call may be to fire, flood, road traffic collisions, chemical spills and more. In fact, incidents attended by wholetime crews are incidents attended by retained crews. Many retained firefighters will have other full or part time occupations, but when the call comes they are ready to drop whatever they are doing and become part of a team. They work alongside full time firefighters. Although they are ‘part-time’ they are trained and capable people saving lives and making headlines.
The 18,200 firefighters that make up the retained fire service in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are generally located in rural communities, although some units are located in urban areas to provide fire cover alongside their wholetime colleagues. Many retained stations provide crewing for 1 appliance, however some crew 2 or more, including special appliances i.e. Hydraulic Platforms, Water Carriers and Turntable Ladders. Many wholetime stations are supported by a complement of retained firefighters to provide extra cover or to crew additional appliances.
Each retained firefighter is issued with a pocket alerter, which will activate to alert them when they are required to respond to an emergency call. They then have a maximum of 5 minutes to report to the fire station and mobilise the necessary appliance(s). Depending on the type of cover given, the retained firefighter may respond to their local fire station from home or work, day or night.
Equipped with the same kit, vehicles and equipment as a wholetime crew, retained crews will be called upon to attend the same range of incidents as their wholetime counterparts at any time of the day or night.
Most brigades offer several types of retained contract based on different levels of commitment. A full rate contract is usually based on a person offering 120 hours of cover per week. A reduced rate contract attracting at least 75% of the retaining fee is payable for any level of cover below 120 hours per week. In practice many brigades define this as 80 hours per week although many are also realistic, and will pay a reduced rate retainer for people offering substantially less than 80 hours of cover, at times when the station otherwise struggles to crew the appliance.
It is always best to speak to the Officer In Charge at your local retained station if you are unsure whether the cover you can offer will be acceptable as there are no hard and fast rules and only they will be able to give you a definitive answer.
