Firefighters and recruitment experts from South Wales Fire and Rescue Service will be in Caldicot town centre on Saturday 16th August to promote the opportunities for local people to join the Service.

There are currently 14 firefighters working a day crewed system at Caldicot Fire Station, which means the firefighters are based at the station from 9am – 6pm and then on call from nearby homes at night.

However, following a thorough review of the risks in the Caldicot area, South Wales Fire Authority agreed that the crewing system should change and become a retained duty system station.

This change in crewing system requires a brand new team of Firefighters to run the station for their community, responding to emergencies from their home or work place within five minutes of their pager alerting.

Next Saturday (16th) from 9.30am – 2pm, members of the community are invited to visit the recruitment trailer in the town centre and speak to recruitment officers and Firefighters about the role of Retained Firefighters and the current opportunities in Caldicot.

Caldicot Station Manager Andrew Sargent said, “We’d like to see members of the public making enquiries about working at Caldicot Fire Station, they may be surprised by the answers! Retained firefighters are trained to the same level as full time firefighters, but they respond to incidents from their nearby homes or workplace, meet at the station and then set off to the incident. The starting salary for Retained Firefighters is around £9,000.”

If those who are interested in becoming a retained firefighter cannot make the day, they can call the recruitment enquiry line on 01443 232200.