What do you imagine when you think about a firefighters role?
The traditional image is perhaps of a firefighter in a fire engine with blue lights flashing and sirens wailing, heading to rescue people from a burning building.
The traditional image is perhaps of a firefighter in a fire engine with blue lights flashing and sirens wailing, heading to rescue people from a burning building.
Whilst this is still a small part of what we do, the demands of our fire service have changed considerably in recent times and the role and requirements of our firefighters has changed too.
The types of emergencies we attend are more varied, such as attending road traffic collisions, people who are trapped, floods and storms and increasing number of health related incidents, are just some of what we are now trained to respond to.
We are focusing more and more on prevention and protection work within our communities so that we can continue to reduce the number and impact of incidents throughout the Humber region. A major part of a firefighter’s role is in contributing to this.
Our communities are diverse and we are working hard to meet their differing needs through the services we provide. Our firefighters must be able to communicate effectively with varied individuals and groups such as older people, young adults and school children to religious groups and people from a variety of backgrounds and cultures.
Treating people with dignity and respect is at the heart of what we do.
We have three types of firefighter roles; Full-Time Firefighters, On-Call Firefighters and Dual Contract.
Full-Time Firefighter
This is a full time role and for the majority of these firefighters this will be their primary occupation. Full-Time firefighters are required to work days, nights, evenings, weekends and public holidays.
On-Call Firefighter
This is a part-time role open to those who live and/or work within 5 minutes of an On-Call fire station. With the exception of training sessions and pre-arranged duties, On-Call firefighters only attend their fire station when they receive an emergency call out via a pocket alerter. These firefighters often have other occupations but commit to being on-call at certain times when they are able to drop whatever they are doing and get to their fire station within 5 minutes.
Find out here if you're within 5 minutes of an On-Call fire station.
Dual Contract Firefighter
A growing number of our Full-Time firefighters who live within 5 minutes of an On-Call fire station, also become an On-Call firefighter to support their local community. They have a dual contract and paid accordingly for each role.