The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) continued their recruitment drive in Enniskillen last Thursday evening.

NIFRS are recruiting for part-time firefighters across Northern Ireland, including in Enniskillen, Belleek, Irvinestown, and Clogher.

It was a cold and wet night when those interested visited Enniskillen Fire Station for the On-Call Open Night.

The night included ladder drills, breathing apparatus checks and a chance to see some of the drills and training which firefighters take part in.

One of those who met potential firefighters was Watch Commander, Paul Donaldson, who is now in his 28th year as a part-time firefighter.

Explaining some elements of this important role, he said: “You have to be able to respond to the station from wherever you are [within] five minutes, and we have to have the fire engines out the door in eight minutes.

“Five minutes is quite a long time – however, I’ve seen fire engines out the door in the middle of the night in four minutes, with six people on it.

“It can be surprising – our biggest problem [in Enniskillen] would be traffic in the town. Most of us, our crew live within the town boundary; some on the Irvinestown Road, Tempo Road and some on the Sligo Road.

“We could do a busy day or week or month, but on average we do between seven and eight calls a week.

“We have two pumps [fire engines] in Enniskillen and depending on the nature of the call-out, that will be decided if one or two pumps and that is predetermined.”

Explaining the variety of the role, Paul said: “When I first joined, it was the Northern Ireland Fire Brigade, and when they changed their name, they expanded the role into rescue.

“Now we attend things like flood incidents; we have always done [attended to] wildfires; we assist the RNLI on the shore while they’d be on the lake. We assist the PSNI and ambulance (NIAS) service now as well. There is a wide range of stuff [which we are tasked to supporting].”

He added: “The big one at the moment, is we are doing quite a few animal rescues – large animals in slurry – and that type of thing.”

Speaking of the type of personnel that the NIFRS wants to attract to the role, Paul said: “We need people with a good discipline, who are able to work as part of a team, and who are driven and want to do it for the right reasons as well.

“There is so much more to being an on-call firefighter than just the salary, because we are working within our own community.

“The rewarding part of the job is getting it done, and getting it done well. When we go out and do an incident, we are out there in people’s time of need, especially in our own town as well.

“The camaraderie amongst the crew is second to none. Some of the things we go to are quite challenging, but we work as a team.”

Praising the role of part-time firefighters, Paul noted technologies such as the Gartin system where allows firefighters some flexibility in the hours they provide on call, as well as a generous pension scheme.

Brian Stanfield, Area Commander, NIFRS said: “NIFRS simply could not operate without our on-call firefighters as they provide emergency fire and rescue services to their local communities, 24/7.

“Being a firefighter is an interesting and fulfilling role, allowing you to protect your local community.

“On-call firefighters are paid a retaining fee, emergency call-out payments and a payment to attend a weekly drill night, which is two hours per week in the evening.

“They are trained to the highest standards and take part in 12 days of training each year, to ensure we have the most highly-skilled firefighters to help protect our local communities.”

If you are interested in being an on-call firefighter, you can apply online by downloading an application packs from the NIFRS website, at www.nifrs.org, with the closing date for applications set at noon tomorrow, Friday, February 10.

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