Contact Us
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service
Headquarters
146 Bolton Road
Swinton, Manchester
M27 8US
Tel: 0161 736 5866
For a FREE Home Fire Risk Assessment please call:
0800 555 815
It is really important before you consider the role of Retained firefighter to understand the commitment involved. Many of our Retained Firefighters have another regular occupation and are mobilised using pagers, providing their employer authorises their absence, or provide cover that does not impact on their main job i.e. evenings and weekends dependant on their regular working hours.
As a Retained Firefighter you will need to agree to:
- Be 'on call' for a minimum of 70 hours per week (based on the requirements of the station).
- Carry a pager and should you receive an alert you must reach the appropriate fire station within four minutes of this call.
- Have the permission of your employer if you are responding to a call at work before you make the commitment to us at Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service. It may be worth highlighting to your employer the benefits to them of your work as a Retained firefighter, which may include:
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- Your fire safety knowledge
- Supporting your local community
- Developing resilience to working in pressurised environments
- Equality and Diversity awareness and team working skills
If you are responding from home it is important to consider others who may be affected by your hours of cover. In addition to this you also need to allow for the impact of responding to an incident or your weekly commitment to attend training drills.
Whilst you need to agree to be 'on call' for a minimum of 70 hours per week, as long as you can reach the station within four minutes should you be alerted, your daily routine can continue as normal. Of course, it is important to remember that you must not drink alcohol or do anything else which might prevent you being able to deal with an incident if called upon.
Most of our Retained Firefighters provide between 70 and 120 hours cover per week and our biggest requirement is to bridge cover at both stations Monday to Friday from 6pm-6am and 24 hours across Saturday and Sunday.
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