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June  2024                            June 2024
 (shout,  reach,  throw  –  don’t  go  in!);  a  pump  to  suck  water  and  a  fan  to  suck   It starts with a general fitness test and if you get through that you will need to do
 smoke; various winches and cutters for RTCs; hoses of all sorts and sizes; hydraulic   the practical assessment which includes ladder lifting, extension and lowering, as
 rams  and  chocks  for  stabilising;  a  powder  fire  extinguisher;  casualty  care  kit   well as climbing a ladder; putting equipment together and carrying equipment;
 including a defibrillator, a tool kit, 1,800 litres of water and hot water to make the   negotiating  a  confined  space  with  limited  or  no  vision  and  evacuating  a
 crew tea! And this is not the full list!   casualty. After that there is an interview and then a medical and eyesight test.
 There  are  also seats  and breathing  apparatus  for five crew, including  the  driver   Once you are accepted as a ‘Firefighter (in development)’ there are basic skill
 and a Mobile Data Terminal in the form of a laptop.   acquisition  courses  which  have  to  be  completed,  -  pumps  and  ladders,
 Sadly, there is no fireman’s pole to slide down but Moira shows me the Muster Bay,   breathing apparatus and dealing with Road Traffic Collisions, RTCs. You do the
 where the crew kit up and the trousers and boots are neatly in a row, arranged so   course and then three months later do the assessment.
 that they can slide on all in one go. There is also a drying room for kit and a small   Sam Sach is a Bere Regis Firefighter (in development) at the moment. He started
 gym with a treadmill. This is important as all the on-call firefighters have an annual   in January 2024.
 fitness  test  they  must  pass  and  a  medical  every  three  years.  They  also  have  a
 hearing test and can have a bespoke mask if they need glasses.   Sam: My parents were in the police and I wanted to work in one of the uniformed
        services.  I’ve  become  an  on-call  firefighter  and  hope  to  move  on  to  be  a
 Moira:  I  didn’t  realise  when  I  started  how  all-consuming  it  would  be  and  how   wholetime firefighter. I have to keep a diary for two years of everything I do and
 much it would alter my life. If we're on the run (have enough crew to go out), I   incidents I attend. Obviously, I don’t want people to be harmed but I would like
 dare not wash my hair, because I couldn’t rinse it and get dry and dressed and to   to attend some  more incidents to consolidate the skills I have learnt.
 the station in five minutes. There are no long walks up Black Hill if I am on-call.
        Tom: For the fire engine to go out you need at least four people, which needs to
 However, I am sure that there is an element of pleasure and satisfaction in a job   include  a  driver,  incident  commander  and  three  people  trained  in  breathing
 well done. The day after I spoke to the firefighters I heard from Moira, that they   apparatus. These roles can overlap. The driver can be the incident commander
 had been called out at 02.59 from the ambulance service to help gain entry to a   and will also be trained in the breathing apparatus.
 property.
        One  of  our  Bere  Regis  on-call  crew,  Matt  Reeves,  has  just  passed  his  Incident
 Many thanks (from everyone) to:    Command Level1.
 Tom Boulter - Station Commander   ‘Fire Control’ receive the emergency call and on their system can see where the
 Matt Reeves – Firefighter   fire is, distance from the stations and available crews. Then the station and crew
        are sent an alert and we must get here quickly - and legally. We are trained to
 Moira Mathers – Firefighter   work together, across neighbouring on-call and wholetime stations and we get
        to know each other well, it’s like a family. So, for example, during the Wareham
 Sam Sach – Firefighter (in development)   Forest Fire in May 2020, firefighters came from every station in Dorset and Wiltshire
        and we even had a helicopter from Wales.
        Moira shows  me  around the station. Bere Regis  fire  station  has  one  fire  engine,
        which is the newest in the fleet. It is very large, very red and very shiny. As well as
        fires  it  can  attend  Road  Traffic  Collisions,  chemical  fires,  rescues  from  height,
        water  rescues  from  land  and  animal  rescues.  The  crew  and  engine  will  work
        alongside ambulance, police and coastguard and do exercises with the armed
        response unit  and  military. There is  also a Land  Rover that  can  go out  with  just
        one person to something like a heath fire and it can also go off road.
        What really impresses me about the fire engine is that it is full of equipment for
        different kinds of fires and incidents and every piece of equipment has its specific
        place to be stored.  Everything is pristine clean and tidy. Moira walks  me round
        and points out equipment to deal with chimney fires and hay fires; water rescue

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