FIREFIGHTERS from Yelverton Fire Station are looking for people from the local community to join their ranks as on-call firefighters.

No previous experience of firefighting is necessary for the role — the ideal prospective firefighter starts with a commitment to the community, a positive attitude and a good level of fitness.

Yelverton watch manager Fred Glanville said: ‘Just being able to go out and save someone’s life is the most rewarding or saving someone’s property.’

On Tuesday, November 19 at 7.49pm, crews from Princetown and Yelverton were called to a road traffic collision on the Princetown Road at Walkhampton Common. The Princetown crew arrived at the scene first and found a woman trapped by her injuries, sat in a vehicle that had been involved in the collision with a moorland pony.

The woman was removed from the car using a spineboard. Crews folded down the seats and the woman was taken out through the hatchback. The woman was taken to hospital by ambulance.

‘If you think you could have helped at this incident and you live local to Yelverton, we are currently looking for firefighters at the station,’ added Fred.

The station has multiple vacancies and people must be able to commit to a contract of 84 or 63 hours a week and ideally live within one to two miles of the station.

This is an opportunity for men and women to potentially save lives in fire, flood and road traffic emergencies.

Being on-call means that you provide a level of cover whilst at work or at home and when you are needed your pager will alert you to attend the station.

Fred said: ‘We are here to support the community and at least half of the firefighters are shift-workers.

‘It’s not your normal job. To do that at night is not easy — you have to wake up and be out of the house in five minutes and it needs to be immediate.’

Many people have primary occupations whilst on-call — either employed or self-employed, the service has examples of employees in factories, shops, takeaways, restaurants, unemployed and stay-at-home mums, who are on-call firefighters.

‘I ask prospective firefighters to give me day cover from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Not every day but those are the hardest times to get a crew. If you’re asking yourself whether you can do this, then give me a call.’

Prospective firefighters need to be over 18 and have a good level of fitness and strength. The service will give people advice and help in preparing for both the written and practical assessments. Equally, living with a disability is not automatically a barrier to operational fighting; it depends on the nature of the disability. Once you are recruited full training is provided.

Anyone interested can email Fred directly on [email protected] or visit the station during training nights on Mondays from 7pm to 9pm.

To see what the station does, visit its Facebook page ‘Yelverton Fire Station’.

More information about becoming an on-call firefighters is available at www.dsfire.gov.uk