Page 46 - BR June 2024 with duck - converted

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

46 43