Retained Firefighter
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In the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, a retained firefighter, also known as an RDS Firefighter or on-call firefighter, is a
firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...
who does not work on a fire station full-time but is paid to spend long periods of time on call to respond to emergencies through the Retained Duty System. Many have full-time jobs outside of the fire service. Retained firefighters are employed and trained by the local
fire and rescue service A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish conflagration, hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisd ...
. When required to answer an emergency call, retained firefighters are summoned to the fire station by a radio pager (also known as an "alerter"). Once at the station, the crews staff the fire engine and proceed to the incident. Retained firefighters are therefore required to live or work near to the fire station they serve. This allows them to respond to emergencies within acceptable and strict attendance time targets set out by each fire service. Typically, retained firefighters are employed in rural areas or in large villages, small towns or run a second/third appliance at full time stations as a backup crew. They provide cover to 90% of the area of the UK - there are 14,000 in
England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...
. Of the approximately 8,500 operational firefighters in
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, about 32% are retained.
London Fire Brigade The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the fire and rescue service for London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865, under the leadership of superintendent Eyre Massey Shaw. It has 5,992staff, in ...
,
West Midlands Fire Service West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) is the fire and rescue service for the metropolitan county of West Midlands, England. The service is the second largest in England, after London Fire Brigade. The service has 38 fire stations, with a blended ...
and
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) is the statutory emergency fire and rescue service for the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, England. It is part of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. GMFRS covers an area of ...
are the only fire and rescue services in the UK that do not have any retained firefighters. Unlike
volunteer firefighter A volunteer fire department (VFD) is a fire department of volunteers who perform fire suppression and other related emergency services for a local jurisdiction. Volunteer and retained (on-call) firefighters are expected to be on call to respond t ...
s, retained firefighters are paid for attending incidents. Both Volunteers & Retained are paid an annual "retainer fee" for being on call, but only Retained firefighters receive further pay for each emergency call they respond to. The
Fire Brigades Union The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is a trade union in the United Kingdom for wholetime firefighters (including officers up to chief fire officer / firemaster), retained firefighters and emergency control room staff. History The first recorded inst ...
(FBU) and the
Retained Firefighters' Union The Fire and Rescue Services Association (FRSA) is a British trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions o ...
(RFU) represent the interests of retained firefighters across the country.


Emergency response

Wholetime firefighters do not usually respond to emergencies during the time when they are off duty, unless there are under dual contract arrangements. Generally, wholetime or full-time firefighters do not respond to calls when they are off-duty as they are assigned to a watch on permanent shifts. However, most retained firefighters can only provide cover at set times due to their full-time employment commitments. For example, it may be that some personnel can provide cover during the day in any given week or only evenings and weekends per week. Often it is a mixture of both. In
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, some on-call firefighters were summoned by means of an air raid-type siren mounted on the local fire station. Now they are all on a pager system, either controlled locally in the case of
Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
and
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, or by a regional control centre (CAMP) in the rest of the country. Unlike many volunteer firefighters in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, retained firefighters are not permitted to use emergency lights or sirens on their personal vehicles. When they drive to the fire station, they must obey normal road traffic laws at all times whilst en route. The British Government reviewed the situation in 2008, but decided that to give every retained firefighter a blue light would effectively "dilute" the importance of blue lights. Most importantly, use of blue lights by retained staff may cause confusion for local road users, particularly where multiple vehicles would be responding to a particular fire station from several directions at once.


Role within the community

In the UK, retained firefighters are responsible for undertaking community fire safety work alongside their full-time colleagues. This involves talks to local school children, home safety checks, and fitting of free smoke detectors in homes. Some RDS fire stations receive hundreds of call-outs per year, comparable or sometimes greater than some full-time fire stations. Other RDS stations receive a relatively small number of call-outs. Some fire and rescue services employ a system known as "day manning" or "day staffing", where the fire station is operated by a full-time watch during the day and covered by retained firefighters at night.


Training and competency

Whole-time firefighters attend training school for an initial period of 13–20 weeks, depending on the fire and rescue service they have joined. On-call firefighters now undertake the same training modules as full-time recruits, spread over a greater period of time due to full-time employment job commitments. The new National Firefighter Training Syllabus is now widely-adopted and consists of a three-week "core skills" module, a two-week breathing apparatus module, a one-week
HAZMAT Dangerous goods, abbreviated DG, are substances that when transported are a risk to health, safety, property or the environment. Certain dangerous goods that pose risks even when not being transported are known as hazardous materials ( syllabi ...
module, a one-week road traffic collision module, plus several weekend trauma care/ EMT and first aid courses. On completion of this, firefighters then enter an on station development stage over a three-year period, once they have completed their development stage they then become competent and receive a higher level of pay. The modules are also backed up by ongoing training on station in multi-disciplined roles, procedures and equipment. However, many Fire Services do not allow retained firefighters to transfer directly to wholetime firefighter without completing a full 13-week new recruits course. In December 2003, recognising the need for a review of the retained duty system, the
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific duti ...
, the department responsible for fire and resilience at that time, called for a report. Published in February 2005, it noted:
The system of flexible local fire cover needs to attract a new pool of applicants who would not have considered the opportunity previously. The recruitment problems stem in part from the level of pay, the lack of a pension, the lack of development opportunities and the often inflexible availability system.'


Other duties

As well as responding to emergency calls and undertaking community fire safety initiatives, retained firefighters attend weekly training nights (aka "Drill Nights") of two to three hours per week to maintain competency levels. They must also undertake routine checks on their equipment and fire appliance, as well as test, clean and maintain the equipment to ensure it will work properly when required during an emergency. To allow retained firefighters to boost their earnings, some retained stations are involved in co-responder schemes, whereby fire crews act as first responders providing first aid prior to the attendance of paramedics.


References

{{Fire fighting Fire and rescue service organisation in the United Kingdom