The role of the Fire Service has changed considerably in the last five years, and the role of the Firefighter within the community has had to change to reflect the new demands made on the Service. The ‘New Look’ Firefighter is not an individual who is just focussed on the traditionally perceived role of attending Emergency Incidents and the physical requirements to achieve that.

The Firefighter now is required to be even more adaptable than previously. Yes, the new look Firefighter still fulfils the traditional role of dealing with fires in all types of premises and a variety of Special Service Calls which include incidents such as entrapment of persons at road traffic accidents, chemical emergencies, flooding and other natural disasters. But, the new look Firefighter is also able to switch from this reactive role to a more preventive role which involves the education of our communities about the hazards presented by fire.

This requires the ability to communicate with all at risk groups within the community especially the elderly and school children, carrying out presentations and talks and visiting dwellings within the community talking to residents about how they can plan to avoid and then survive a fire if it occurs. In many instances this will involve the fitting of smoke detectors on behalf of those people to ensure their safety.

To achieve this the new look Firefighter needs to understand and represent the community that he or she serves. Society is continually changing and becoming more multi-cultural and, therefore, the modern firefighting team, in order to fulfil its role of communicating with that society has to represent all cultures and gender and, therefore, is a diverse team committed to the safety of the public from fire in all respects.

Wholetime Recruitment

South Wales Fire and Rescue service are not recruiting for Wholetime Duty System (WDS) Firefighters at present. It is likely that the next Recruitment Campaign will commence in 2010/ 2011. Please watch this page for further announcements. In the meantime, if you are interested in being considered for the role of WDS Firefighter, we suggest that you follow the links below, which will provide information that will help with your preparation.

Firefighter Information Pack

Preparatory Fitness Programme