Your fire station needs you!

That’s the message from fire chiefs in West Yorkshire, who want more firefighters for small stations including Slaithwaite, Meltham and Holmfirth.

The brigade is recruiting on-call firefighters to serve rural areas of the county.

They are needed to work on a standby basis to provide mostly daytime cover across many villages.

On-call firefighters are paid to work on a standby system, sometimes as a second job. They must live or work within one mile of the fire station, or be able to reach their station within five minutes of receiving an emergency call.

The recruiting stations predominantly need daytime cover between 7am and 7pm.

Their training, and the range of incidents they attend, is exactly the same as their full-time colleagues who are based at a fire station 24 hours a day.

Training for new fire recruits

A series of taster sessions will take place at fire stations around West Yorkshire, and at brigade headquarters in Birkenshaw, to allow anyone interested to try before they apply.

Asst Chief Officer Steve Rhodes said: “On-call firefighters are highly respected members of the community who are committed to keeping the public safe.

“It is a very rewarding and worthwhile job and I’d urge anyone who is interested to have a go at one of our taster sessions.”

Kirklees councillor Judith Hughes, who chairs the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority, said: “The nature of the on-call duty system means there is a great deal of flexibility, which we hope many women will find attractive, as it fits perfectly around family life.

Firefighters demonstrate a traffic accident rescue at Rastrick Fire Station.

“Many people wrongly assume that the fire service is a male career and it won’t fit around their lifestyle, which couldn’t be further from the truth.”

To register your interest in attending a taster session, visit www.westyorksfire.gov.uk/careers and complete the online form.

The taster sessions are as follows:

  • West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters: Tuesday, January 26, 10am - 1pm and 6pm - 9pm, Sunday, January 31, 2pm – 5pm;
  • Huddersfield Fire Station (For Meltham, Holmfirth and Slaithwaite fire stations) - Saturday,February 6,10am - 1pm;
  • Halifax Fire Station (For Mytholmroyd Fire Station) - Saturday,February 6, 3pm - 6pm; Featherstone Fire Station - Saturday, January 30, 2pm - 5pm;
  • Otley Fire Station - Sunday, February 7, 2pm – 5pm.