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.
What is a retained firefighter?
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.
How does it work?
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.
Commitment
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.
Incidents
Call rates vary from station to station with some retained stations responding to over 800 calls a year and others responding to less than 50. On average you can expect to be called out 2 or 3 times a week for perhaps a couple of hours. And, because the ideal is to have more firefighters available than are needed to crew each appliance, you won't have to attend every call. In addition when you really can't spare the time for some reason - a night out or a deadline at work for example - you can "sign off" duty, providing there are enough staff available to crew the appliance for that period.
Retained firefighters, exactly like their wholetime colleagues, will respond to a broad range of incidents including:
- Fires.
- Road traffic collisions / railway accidents / air accidents / industrial accidents.
- Chemical Incidents.
- Animal rescues.
- Water rescues.
- Lift rescues.
- Flooding and other weather related incidents.
Some retained stations also provide support to the Ambulance Service. This is known as 'Co-Responding'. For many retained stations, particularly those in rural areas, the nearest Ambulance can be miles away. Early intervention by firefighters can save vital minutes in the event of a patient suffering a heart attack and can be the difference between life and death. A Co-responder crew will by mobilised via the Ambulance service control room to provide early defibrillation and basic life support to patients in cardiac arrest and to administer oxygen therapy to people suffering from breathing difficulties before the arrival of an ambulance.
Community Fire Safety
The role of the fire service has changed over recent years, with firefighters working to reduce the number of fires, and fire related deaths and injuries through a range of Community Fire Safety initiatives. Many retained firefighters play an important role within their communities, by helping to promote fire safety messages at local galas and fetes, giving fire safety advice to schools and other organisations, carrying out Home Fire Risk Assessments and ensuring that local risk information is kept up to date.