Distance from station

[Tiswas]

Hi new here,
I just have the one question for the moment. I will be applying for a place as a retained firefighter shortly however I live a bit of a distance from the station and i'm not sure if I could get there in the obligatory 5 minutes. I was wondering if there is any lee way on the time, or as I am only working part time whether or not I could stay at the station when (IF I get in) i'm on call?

Thanks

[mc6699]

Hi folks can any 1 please tell what is emtailed ant a medical for the northern ireland fire service i asked this question yesterday and got a reply from compulsor but i not sure what i have done this is my first time on this forum but i can not get back to his answer i think i have  unsubcribed to the topic and not sure how to get back to it any help and advice would be great. or has any recently done or passed a medical for the nifrs get in touch.

[Midland Retty]

Hi new here,
I just have the one question for the moment. I will be applying for a place as a retained firefighter shortly however I live a bit of a distance from the station and i'm not sure if I could get there in the obligatory 5 minutes. I was wondering if there is any lee way on the time, or as I am only working part time whether or not I could stay at the station when (IF I get in) i'm on call?

Thanks

Best thing to do is have a word with the Officer in Charge down at your local fire station. Policies on response times differ from brigade to brigade so wouldnt be able to give you a definitive answer

[Tiswas]

So are you not automatically discounted from applying if you live too far away from the station then?

[Midland Retty]

Not necessarily , it all depends to be honest Tiswas. If you chat to the Officer at the Station he / she will be able to give you more advice.

[Chris Houston]

Hi folks can any 1 please tell what is emtailed ant a medical for the northern ireland fire service i asked this question yesterday and got a reply from compulsor but i not sure what i have done this is my first time on this forum but i can not get back to his answer i think i have  unsubcribed to the topic and not sure how to get back to it any help and advice would be great. or has any recently done or passed a medical for the nifrs get in touch.

Ryan,

Just click on "mc6699" and it will show you the messages you posted.  Or take a look in any of the sub headings and there is a dot to show the threads you have posted in.

Cheers,

Chris.

[toby14483]

If they need staff to stay on the run, you may be okay.

If they have plenty of staff, then it will more than likely be a no. If you live more than 5 minutes away from a station with plenty of staff, and the appliance turns out in less than 5 minutes everytime, you wouldn't want to be there anyway, I wouldn't have thought.

[rp]

Hello,

At the end of the day if a 999 call is recieved then peoples lives could be at risk, do you really think it is appropriate that its going to take longer than 5 mins just to arrive at the station.

[Clevelandfire]

Hello,

At the end of the day if a 999 call is recieved then peoples lives could be at risk, do you really think it is appropriate that its going to take longer than 5 mins just to arrive at the station.

Probably not no, but unless you can come up with an answer to address shortage in recruiting retained personnel then whats the alternative?

Far better to go out a few minutes later with a full compliment of crew than struggle with bare minimum.

[toby14483]

If the choice is an appliance turning out in 6 minutes in my community or an appliance taking 15 minutes coming from the next town over, I know which I would choose.

[Clevelandfire]

agreed, but does that choice exist in some places it doesnt. Sometimes your local retained station could be off the run. Sometimes they might be engaged at another incident. it isnt that black and white

[toby14483]

Oh, of course, but the above fellow questioned if it was appropriate taking longer than 5 minutes to turn out, when of course it all depends on circumstances.

However where you said: "Far better to go out a few minutes later with a full compliment of crew than struggle with bare minimum."  my brigade disagrees and feels it better to turn out with no BA capabilities, than wait an extra 30 seconds.

Fortunatly for everyone the training for reatined has recently changed and there will no longer be on the run firefighters without BA training.

Anyway... good luck openng poster. Consider moving if you have to. It's worth it at the end of the day.

[Clevelandfire]

Oh, of course, but the above fellow questioned if it was appropriate taking longer than 5 minutes to turn out, when of course it all depends on circumstances.

However where you said: "Far better to go out a few minutes later with a full compliment of crew than struggle with bare minimum."  my brigade disagrees and feels it better to turn out with no BA capabilities, than wait an extra 30 seconds.

Fortunatly for everyone the training for reatined has recently changed and there will no longer be on the run firefighters without BA training.

Anyway... good luck openng poster. Consider moving if you have to. It's worth it at the end of the day.

Im not sure I understand you

Retained firefighters do go on the run woithout BA training in most counties

And how do you wait 30 seconds if second truck is 15 mins away?

So are you saying 5 mins is any better than 7 mins when the next nearest truck is 15 minutes away?

[nearlythere]

So are you not automatically discounted from applying if you live too far away from the station then?

Not neccesssarily. You will probably find that it is not the distance you are from the station that matters but the time it would take you to get there from your home address driving within the speed limit for the shortest route.
You could live within 2 miles from the station but your route to get there could be 4. Fine if you are a crow.

[kurnal]

Im not sure I understand you

Retained firefighters do go on the run woithout BA training in most counties

And how do you wait 30 seconds if second truck is 15 mins away?

So are you saying 5 mins is any better than 7 mins when the next nearest truck is 15 minutes away?

It is common practice in many brigades for control to give the nearest retained station to a fire ( lets say station A)  5 minutes to turn out, and if they fail to get  sufficient crew will mobilise the next nearest station B instead, and will stand down the two or three firefighters at station A.
I think Toby is saying that if station B is 15 minutes away from the fire it may be better still to mobilise station B but also to give station A a bit longer to try and raise a full crew. not to stand station A down until it is clear that they will not be able to respond faster than station B.

Something like that anyway.  

I too would be interested to hear of new arrangements for the training of firefighters on the RDS please Toby