Stand-up comedian Rhod Gilbert is often told he has the hardest job in the world, but in his second series of ‘Rhod Gilbert's Work Experience’ he looks at how it compares to ‘regular’ jobs. 

In the final of this four part series showing on Monday 28^th March, BBC 1 Wales, 10.35pm he tries his hand at becoming a Firefighter with South Wales Fire and Rescue Service.

Rhod Gilbert said”

“I couldn’t do what they (Firefighters) do. To walk into a burning building where you don’t know what you will be faced with and if there are people in there – I cannot imagine what the adrenaline and fear must be like”.

“It’s not just fires they deal with – a large part of their work is road traffic collisions, cutting people out of vehicles and rescuing people from rivers. There’s a real array of skills they’ve acquired through really intense training and it just blows you away, that aspect of it, to see how well drilled they are”.

Rhod continued “They put me in a vehicle to show me how they’d cut someone out, and talk about a well oiled machine!  There was some working with cutters, some with things spreading the metal apart, others hacking the window out, others holding my neck so it didn’t move, someone talking me through it, comforting me”.

“Talk about seven people working as one machine – the level of skill, the medical knowledge, it’s phenomenal.  It was mind-blowing how good they were at what they did.

“As well as this they also undertake a lot of preventative work including visits to primary schools to teach the children about fire safety and carrying out Home Fire Safety Checks and fitting smoke alarms in homes around Wales”.

So it’s not a job that I would even contemplate – not just physically far too demanding but you just need to be far braver than I am!”

Cllr Anthony Ernest, Chairman of South Wales Fire and Rescue Authority, said;

“We were extremely pleased to have the comedian Rhod Gilbert with us as a trainee Firefighter.  I have heard from the Firefighters on Malpas Fire and Technical Rescue Station and Cardiff Gate Training Centre, where Rhod was based during his time with SWFRS that he was a first class recruit.

“I hope that the programme will give the public an insight into the demanding and diverse profession of a 21^st century Firefighter and the excellent work they undertake”.