Great Baddow Fire Station converts to an on-call fire station
As the clock struck 9am on Tuesday 1 February, Great Baddow Fire Station officially converted from a day-crewed fire station to an on-call fire station.
As an on-call fire station, a team of 14 on-call firefighters will respond to incidents from work or home at all times.
The team all live or work in Great Baddow and provide fire cover as on-call firefighters throughout the days, evenings and weekends.
They balance their time between their busy day jobs, which range from hairdressing to removals, all while taking time from their personal lives to help make Essex safer.
A number of wholetime firefighters will support the transition to on-call status, while some of the station's newer on-call firefighters continue their training.
In 2021, the team attended 245 incidents, ranging from fires and road traffic collisions, through to animal rescues.
Station Manager Dan Wastell from Great Baddow Fire Station said:
“We’ve grown a fantastic team of on-call firefighters at Great Baddow Fire Station, who have worked closely with our wholetime colleagues to convert our fire station.
“Our thanks go to our on-call firefighters and their loved ones who give so much to protect their local communities as well as to everyone who has supported us in this journey to convert.
“We’re keen to continue growing our team of dedicated on-call firefighters and will continue encouraging people to join us. If you live or work within 5 minutes of Great Baddow Fire Station, we’d love to welcome you into our team. You can pop into one of our drill nights on a Monday night from 7-9pm to find out more about the role, or alternatively head over to essex-fire.gov.uk/gb to apply online.”
Watch Manager Gary Dyer from Great Baddow Fire Station said:
“We’d like to give a big thank you to Watch Manager Paul Speller who passed his baton on as the station converts from day-crewed status to on-call status.
“Paul has served over a decade at Great Baddow Fire Station and he has supported our on-call firefighters in their roles and will continue to do so. All of us at Great Baddow Fire Station would like to say a big thank you to WM Speller for his continuous support.”
Around 75% of fire stations in Essex are crewed by on-call firefighters; people who live or work within five minutes of the fire station. They respond when they are called to an incident and are paid for the time they give.
Are you interested in becoming an on-call firefighter? Visit join.essex-fire.gov.uk/on-call/
Page last updated 2 February, 2022
