Bingham Fire Station holds female recruitment day

The fire service is actively trying to recruit more women through a series of open days that have taken place throughout the country.

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue are putting an emphasis on recruiting female firefighters to work in either wholetime or retained roles as part of the initiative.

Retained firefighters are members of the community who can be called upon in an emergency and must live or work within five minutes of the fire station they enrol at.

Advertiser reporter Abigail Hunt was put through her paces in a recent open day at Bingham Fire Station.

She was given several challenges that firefighters are subject to each day.

The initial task of the day was to climb a high tower and perform a leg lock around the ladder, to test if I had the strength to hold my own weight in an emergency situation.

I was then asked to remove my hands from the ladder to assess the confidence of my leg lock, which would often be used in a high-pressure rescue.

This challenge was more difficult than expected because of how hot it was in the fire uniform, making it that much harder to move around.

And testing my confidence even further, I was ordered to peer over both shoulders and shout out letters presented on a clipboard by a fireman on the ground.

However, the test which proved to be most daunting and strenuous was the equipment carry.

This entailed me walking several laps with different pieces of equipment used in fire rescue situations, including a carry of a dummy that weighed 60kg ­— 2kg more than my own bodyweight.

The next step was to lay the dummy down ­— all while sweating buckets ­— and continue to walk four laps with two hose reels.

Following this, I was to lug a suction strainer on my shoulder, which was far more difficult than it looked because of the long length of equipment, causing me to fall off-balance several times.

But the final push was to run four laps in the persistent and blistering heat before almost collapsing with exhaustion and the overwhelming feeling of being sick.

It is safe to say, our fire service have a very tough job on their hands.

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service is committed to providing services for all the people of Nottinghamshire and claim to be dedicated to promoting equality and valuing diversity within their workforce and the communities they serve.

To find out more about how to apply for a role at the fire and rescue service, go to www.notts-fire.gov.uk/nfrs-careers

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