Wholetime Recruitment???

[Andy Cole]

Hi everyone,

This is my first time doing this so please be gentle!!!

I am currently Retained in Somerset (10 months on the run) and like many others am looking at the potential for going Wholetime. I do not wish to undermine in any way what a valuable service the retained provide and am well aware that there are many of them who are content to stay as retained and thank goodness there are! Somerset has 33 stations (I think, correct me if I'm wrong) of which only 3 are WT!

I am lucky enough to be on a good station, we get about 3 shouts a week on average which means whilst we aren't out as much as I would like to be we are out little enough for it to be a viable thing for local employers to support making the whole operation possible!

My reason for writing is that I love the job and want to get more involved I have looked on www.fireservice.co.uk but this seems to be very out of date. Can anyone suggest another site I could look at which may have more up to date information?

Andy

[Graeme]

Hi everyone,

This is my first time doing this so please be gentle!!!

given up football then?

[Andy Cole]

Yeah Thanks I was waiting for that one!!! There are several fundemental differences between myself and the other Andy Cole firstly I can't and (unlike the other one) have never proffessed to being able to play football.

[Graeme]

neither can the other one.

Sorry but i could not resist it even though it was too obvious.

[Andy Cole]

So I'm reliably informed although I'm afraid to say I don't really foloow the game more into my Rugby.
Are you a FF?, I discorved this site by chance through Google a couple of days ago, never knew it exsisted good idea really innit!

[Graeme]

I work on Fire Detection Systems.Good site and sorry to crash your thread.
Other Members will give you an answer i'm sure.

Graeme

[Andy Cole]

crash my thread? I'm going to have to seriously work on my lingo!
I know what you mean Don't be sorry!!
I should almost certainly already know this but I can still hide under the 'new boy' tag! you may well be able to give me ananswer to this one
 What is the best way to test a Smoke alarm when installing it (or at any other time for that matter!) by pressing the 'test' button are you not just checking the function of the battery?

[Paul]

Sounds a bit technical for you there Graeme.  You may want to consult.

[Graeme]

pressing the button is okay for the weekly test from the house owner.
i would use a test spray to test.
Don't do what i have seen loads of people do and confuse the sounder outlet with the smoke chamber and spray into that.The inlets are usually roound the side of the detector.

[Graeme]

Sounds a bit technical for you there Graeme.  You may want to consult.

i phoned a friend.

[Nullifire]

I have looked on www.fireservice.co.uk but this seems to be very out of date.
Andy

You have got to be having a laugh.

[Andy Cole]

why? Am I looking in the wrong place, everywhere I looked seemed to be months out of date!

[fireftrm]

Andy

fireservice.co.uk is the most up to date

RT to WT should be appearing everywhere soon, it has already happened here - direct transfer after some tests, it may be that some FRS will require the NVQ as a prerquisite, ask about doing that. Happy for any personal messages to assist

[Andy Cole]

Thanks for your info, I appreciate that. I think it is pretty unlikely that Somerset will be doing that because of the number of Wholetime stations in the service, I have never heard of the NVQ you talk about but I am interested to learn more about it I will ask within my own brigade if anyone knows anymore about it!
One advantage I have to beat the usual RT to WT transfer arguments is that my station (a one pump with 12 personnel) is at full compliment and we have at least 2 people locally who are keen to join as soon as a position comes up.
Thanks again Andy.

[Paul]

Andy,

I'm sure that Avon FRS are near to you.  They are mainly WT stations on their patch.  Maybe possible to look there?