So You Think You Know The Fire Service? The fire service is more than just firefighting. It’s about helping people in their hour of need. If the thought of going up a ladder or into a small space does not appeal then there is a whole host of support jobs in the fire and rescue service, for example work in a supporting role such as in the media team that explains the service to the public.
Chichester Fire Station Manager, Anton Mezzone, 44, said: “The fire service employs people from a broad range of different cultural backgrounds with different skill sets across the fire and rescue service. Over the last 15 years, more women are coming into the service. They bring key skills like empathy and different aspects of thinking about incidents and people might prefer to talk to a female at an incident.” If you want to be a firefighter there are two main career paths. Firstly, what is known as a whole time position which is a full-time job, 24/7 shift patterns, 365 days a year. Secondly, you can join as a retained firefighter. This is someone that might have another job and will be alerted if there's an
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incident that requires them to come into the station close to where they live. In West Sussex, 14 of the 25 fire stations are crewed by on-call firefighters. Anton joined the Fire Service when he was 20 years old and has worked his way up to station manager via many other fire stations. He’s currently based at West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service in Chichester. Anton said: “I was in my mid 20s, quite young, and I didn't know what I wanted to be at school. I went and got a job at a retail company just to make a bit of money and be able to pay my mum keep; to look after me, pay for food, because that's the right thing to do. At that time, one of my friends at work
©West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service
By Noni Needs