Firefighters tend to be a macho lot with lots of jokes about poles and hoses.

But now Slaithwaite’s retained, part-time crew want more women to join their ranks.

Reporter Chloe Glover donned her hat to find out what a day in the life of a firefighter involves, dispel some of the myths that surround it and see why women are the right fit for the job.

The Hollywood image of six feet plus men with lumberjack shoulders had me wondering, at just over the five feet mark, how I would quite literally fill any pair of boots lined up in Slaithwaite Fire Station.

But after rolling up to take part in four crew members’ morning drills, it seems that there need be no reason for the service, in which 96% of those who worked in it in 2012 were men, needs to be a boys-only club anymore.

Since height restrictions were scrapped across forces from the late 1990s, a minimum height requirement for the job is today as irrelevant as being a dab hand at snooker, which fell by the wayside a long time ago.

And a lack of it certainly proved no barrier to scaling ladders to enter a several storey high building, although a love of clambering did come in handy when getting into the driving seat of the crew’s huge 4x4 vehicle.

It is just one of the myths that may be keeping hundreds of women from applying to sign up in the area, a problem that is persisting in Slaithwaite, where only one out of the 11 crew is female.

“There are no height limits at all, although any would-be firefighter may want to reconsider the job if they are currently one of the bigger members of the All Blacks rugby team,” said Kevin Walsh, crew commander at the station.

He and his team are promoting a drive to get women of all sizes aged 18 or over to consider becoming a retained firefighter in the village.

What is crucial is that all retained crew live within five minutes of the station and that other fitness and strength requirements will continue to be necessary, as anyone, regardless of gender, who could only lift a cat from a tree (a job that rarely occurs even once in a firefighters’ career) would struggle to get by.

But this is something that the fire service will help crew to meet every six months – and after a bowl of Weetabix even I was soon carting around hose reels, climbing dozens of feet and carrying over 20kg breathing apparatus kits.

One of the crew members, Darren Shaw, said: “Retained crew have all the same responsibilities as full time staff and it’s certainly not something that women should be frightened of.

“In fact, I’ve seen many women crew who have been a lot better at the job than the men.”

The crew are particularly keen to involve mums who have spare time in between taking and picking up children from school or have another job.

Kevin said: “I think many women may not think that they have the time.

“Retained crews average around 50 hours a week on call and have to attend at least one three-hour training session a week.

“But even if you think you don’t have the time, still apply as the service can be very flexible and the roles we are trying to fill will mainly be during the working week, from 8am to 5pm.

“Our team has people with all sorts of other jobs, from farriers, nurses, to PCSOs and teaching assistants. We work employers to encourage them to give you time to respond to emergency calls should you be needed.”

It is the thrill of not knowing what sort of incident you may be called out to and the sense of job satisfaction that has kept so many of the crew in the job.

This could include attending anything from grass fires, burning mills and going into the community to conduct fire safety classes, to checking microwaves that have caused Christmas Pudding explosions and rescuing teenagers who have got their heads stuck in a sink.

Another crew member, Matthew Green, said: “The commitment is a lot but the satisfaction you get from it is huge.

“It’s a cracking job and very self-satisfying to be able to give back to the community and it’s such a big difference from your average nine to five, that’s for sure.”

After awakening arm muscles that I did not even know I had, it also seems to be a good value way of keeping fit.

“The skills are another reason to give it a go- you will get first aid and health and safety training that you’ll be able to use in lots of other jobs, skills which would benefit everyone, including other employers,” added Matthew.

Although there is a long way to go until women make up even a substantial proportion of the fire service across the UK, Slaithwaite’s crew are definitely keen to put their first foot on the ladder to get a more gender equal workforce.

“We’d love to have more women join us. They shouldn’t think there are barriers to stop them giving it a go.”

Taster days for the positions will take place in November, where people considering the job will undergo a series of tests to give them their own taste of a day in the life of a fire fighter, which will include sessions on navigating enclosed spaces and ladder climbing.

Applications for positions will be posted on October 13 on the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service at www.westyorksfire.gov.uk