"Have a go" day with East Sussex Fire and Rescue

East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service are currently recruiting On Call fire fighters and invite you to find out more and try your hand at some of the key activities a firefighter undertakes in their job.

If you are over 18, book your spot on one of our sessions at Eastbourne Fire Station, on Saturday 18 May 2024. You can get an idea of what happens at a Have a Go Day here: Have-a-go days | East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service (esfrs.org)

These sessions will provide you with a wealth of knowledge and insight into working with East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service in the extremely valuable role. Join in practice sessions on some of the equipment used in the Assessment centre on 5 June 2024 and our amazing HR colleagues will be on hand to offer some guidance on the whole process.

Please ensure that your wear physical training clothing, shoes and that you bring water to drink.

You will be asked to complete a health declaration and a waiver form before the session begins.

Where we need you

On-call firefighters carry alerters when on duty and MUST be at the fire station, ready to "turn out" on the fire engine within 5 minutes of the alerter sounding, travelling at normal road speeds, typically from home, friends, relatives or their place of work.

We are particularly keen to find new faces in Barcombe, Broad Oak, Burwash, Forest Row, Hailsham, Heathfield, Herstmonceux, Mayfield, Newhaven, Rye, Seaford, Wadhurst and Uckfield. We also have on call firefighters at Battle, Bexhill and Pevensey however these stations aren't recruiting at the moment.

You can find our more On-Call Firefighters | East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service (esfrs.org)

Every walk of life

An on-call firefighter is someone who responds to a range of fire and rescue service jobs; these range from emergency calls, working at open days, carrying out work with their local communities and acting as an ambassador for the fire service.

On-call firefighters come from every walk of life, including homemakers, shopkeepers, builders, farmers, office workers and directors of companies, together with people who are not currently employed.

Over 90% of On-call firefighters in East Sussex do their firefighting work alongside their day job.

Full training is provided on an ongoing basis, therefore previous experience is not needed.

To be an on-call firefighter, you must :

• Be over 17.5 years of age at the time of application (we are unable to employee anyone under the age of 18).
• Have a strong desire to support the local community.
• Be enthusiastic about working as part of a team.
• Have a reasonable level of personal fitness.
• You will be required to be clean shaven for Health & Safety reasons, to ensure your Breathing Apparatus has a complete seal.
• An integral part of the county’s fire cover
• The on-call duty system is one of three Duty Systems (alongside Shift and Day Crewed) that combine to provide operational fire cover across the County of East Sussex.

All firefighters in East Sussex are trained to respond to the same incidents and on-call Firefighters are not a secondary or backup service.

They are an integral part of the county’s fire cover and enable us to crew more fire appliances in some of the more rural and remote areas of the county.

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