Retained firefighter
Vacancies
To see our current vacancies please see the Recruitment index page.
About Retained Firefighting
The information in this section will give you an insight into the role of a firefighter and will help you decide if being a firefighter is the right career choice for you.
What is a retained firefighter?
A retained firefighter is a firefighter who is on-call to respond to a range of emergencies when their pager alerts them. We employ around 370 firefighters on the retained duty system and 24 of our 28 fire stations operate either full or part time with retained firefighters.
Our retained firefighters usually have a primary job and carry out their firefighting role in addition to that. They may be factory workers, teachers, plumbers, builders, office workers, administrators or technicians, but when called upon they become a dedicated team ready to face any emergency. They are fully trained and skilled people saving lives in their own community.
It is not a job that can be undertaken lightly, but can provide a sense of real achievement and value. There is plenty of scope for individual potential to be developed and fulfilled, and new skills to be gained which will be useful to you in all walks of life.
Being a firefighter
Fighting fires can, in fact, be just a small part of the everyday work. Firefighters are called upon to provide community education and advice on fire safety but, when they are called to an emergency, they could be dealing with any type of major or minor incident - road, rail or air crashes, floods, fires, chemical spills, or rescuing people trapped in lifts or other confined spaces.
This type of work requires a range of personal skills such as understanding, reliability, flexibility and the ability to work within a team. If you think you have what it takes to deal with these situations, more information can be found in our Retained/Volunteer Firefighter Information Pack (see below). This information pack is intended to give you an insight into the role of a retained firefighter and the types of activities you can expect to be involved in during your career with us. It also provides details about the current recruitment process.This pack is also used for potential recruits for the Peterborough Volunteer Fire Brigade.
Are you interested in joining us?
If you're interested in becoming a retained firefighter with us, our recruitment process starts with these essential questions:
- Are you 18 years or over?
- Do you have a good level of all-round fitness?
- Do you have the enthusiasm, time and commitment to participate in this essential emergency service?
- Do you live or work within five minutes' travel time of the station at which you would like to work?
- Do you have good eyesight and hearing?
- Are you literate and numerate?
If you are able to answer YES to all of the above, the following documents may also help you decide if becoming a retained firefighter is right for you:
- Pre application checklists 1 and 2 - Microsoft Word document, 240 KB
- Fitness information - Microsoft Word document, 197 KB
- Retained/Volunteer Firefighter Information Pack - Microsoft Word document, 403 KB
We look forward to welcoming you to our Service soon!
