Firefighters Dai Thomas, aged 49, who is a self employed carpenter and builder; Christopher Biggs aged 26, who is a chef in a local restaurant, Owen Lewis, aged 28 who is the customer and sales manager for the HSBC Bank in Cowbridge and Nigel Jones aged 40, who is a BA maintenance engineer, spent their first training night on the fire station last week (Wednesday 29^th July) where they were welcomed by Station Manager Dewi Jones, and White Watch – one of the two crews that currently staff the station.

“Our four new Firefighters will now begin a 6 week preparation period which means they will join their whole-time colleagues on the fire station for a training night once a week, and learn from them the basic skills that they will need before they undergo an intensive two week initial fire-fighting course at our Training and Development Centre in Cardiff Gate”, said South Wales Fire and Rescue Service’s Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Kevin Barry.

 “From then on, for their entire careers, they will receive regular training on a wide variety of skills that they’ll need in their duties as Firefighters, including road traffic collision extrication, fire-fighting, water rescue, hazardous materials, environmental protection, transport (planes and railway incidents), trauma care and terrorist incidents.  We expect the same high standards of all our Firefighters whether they are whole-time or retained, and we’ll accept nothing less.  That is why our retained staff complete the same rigorous training regime as their whole-time colleagues.  They have a vital role to play in the protection of their community and we are delighted that these community spirited people have decided to take up the opportunity to join our team”, he added.

Currently Cowbridge fire station is day crewed, which means that two Watches of Whole-time Firefighters take it in turns to attend the station and crew it between 9 am and 6pm every day, and are then on call from the hours of 6pm until 9am.  They must remain within a very short travelling distance of the station, so they can quickly respond when their alerters notify them of an incident in the area. Many of these Firefighters do not actually live in Cowbridge so have to rent accommodation for the time they are on duty, which means they are away from their family and friends for 4 days at a time.  The crewing system will in future be fully retained, which means that people living and working in the local area will respond to emergency incidents via an alerter.  Firefighters currently working at Cowbridge fire station are fully in support of the change in the crewing system from day crewed to retained. 

Station Manager Dewi Jones said:

“Due to increased fire awareness through our Home Fire Safety Checks (which can be booked on 0800 169 1234) and the pro-active approach adopted by South Wales Fire and Rescue Service to all emergency incidents, the risk to residents in Cowbridge has reduced. It is our intention to serve the community of Cowbridge with highly qualified RDS Firefighters who already live and work in the area and have an awareness of all local issues, just as it was 35 years ago and in the same manner that Llantwit Major and Pontyclun are currently served”.

Cowbridge will revert to retained, once there is a full complement of around 18 fully trained Retained Firefighters and will respond to emergencies via alerters, much the same as the current crew do now, when providing night time cover.  The South Wales Fire and Rescue Service has recently run a recruitment campaign, which has been highly successful in attracting applications from men and women living in the local community, many of whom should be crewing the station within a year. 

Firefighters currently crewing the station, will be redeployed to other whole-time stations in the area, and a few of them will join the retained system in addition to their whole-time jobs.