A fire service is urging people to join their local station as it faces ongoing challenges in maintaining emergency response cover.<\/p>\n
Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service said each of its buildings should have about 12 firefighters who can reach the station within five minutes, with demand highest during weekday daytime hours.<\/p>\n
“You don’t need previous experience, just commitment, reliability and a willingness to learn,” said group commander Paul Oliver.<\/p>\n
“Without that support, we risk not having a fire engine available when it’s needed most.”<\/p>\n
The fire service said the role was flexible and that individuals would need to offer about 50 hours of availability, fitted around other commitments.<\/p>\n
People would be paid for incident training, would receive an annual retaining fee and would benefit from development opportunities, a healthcare plan and gym access.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the service said areas including St Ives, St Neots and Cambourne, Yaxley near Peterborough, Soham and Manea all needed more firefighters.<\/p>\n
A report from August 2023, inspecting the fire service<\/a>, found that fire engines arrived to the most serious incidents within the benchmark of about nine minutes.<\/p>\n However, inspectors said they did not always meet the standard time of 12 minutes for rural areas.<\/p>\n In 2024-25, the fire service had 0.63 full-time equivalent workers per 1,000 of the population.<\/p>\n Do you have a story suggestion for Cambridgeshire? Contact us below.<\/p>\n Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a> and X<\/a>.<\/p>\n Related internet links