Firefighter

– The main duties of a full-time firefighter are to help protect the public in emergency situations.
– They respond to a wide variety of calls, such as car crashes, chemical spills, flooding, water rescue and general rescue as well as fires.
– With many fire crews being trained as first responders they can provide first aid until the arrival of ambulance personnel.
– In addition to attending emergency call outs and rescuing people and animals from life-threatening situations, the job entails:
– using sophisticated firefighting and rescue equipment
– promoting fire safety via talks, advice and training sessions.
– inspecting and enforcing safety standards in commercial and residential properties.
– demonstrating the use of firefighting equipment
– performing practice drills.
– working with police and ambulance service personnel
– undertaking physical and academic training.
– checking and maintaining vehicles, equipment, hydrants and water supplies.
– All staff wear uniforms, and 24-hour shift work is a standard requirement of the job. The work can be stressful and dangerous but there is a great deal of job satisfaction to be gained from providing such a valuable service to the community.
– There are two main divisions of firefighter: full-time professional firefighters and retained firefighters. Apart from training, retained firefighters only attend the fire station during a call out and usually have another full-time job. – – They are employed in rural areas and must live or work within five minutes of the station.