Being a firefighter

The role of a firefighter goes far beyond fighting fires. It’s a demanding yet deeply rewarding career that involves responding to a wide range of emergencies. These include property fires, wildfires, flooding, and road traffic collisions.

To carry out this work effectively, firefighters need:

• compassion
• professionalism
• respect
• integrity
• strong communication skills
• physical fitness
• dedication
• commitment to high standards

We provide our service every minute of the day, every day of the year. Fires and other emergencies do not stop because of holidays or bad weather and nor do we. 

The role involves:

• carrying out fire prevention activities
• working alongside partner agencies dealing with suicides and other fatalities
• training to maintain our professional standards

Firefighters often face stressful and hazardous situations. At the same time, they provide comfort and reassurance to people affected by these events. Being a reliable team member and supporting colleagues is an integral part of the role.

Being a successful firefighter isn't just about having one ability or trait. It requires both practical skills and personal qualities. These include:

• personal qualities
  • sensitivity and emotional intelligence to deal with the public and colleagues
  • personal resilience
• practical skills
  • excellent all-round physical fitness
  • problem solving using relevant information
  • ability to remember complex processes and apply them under pressure
  • ability to carry out numerical calculations

Being a firefighter can be mentally and emotionally tough. From your first day, you’ll start learning important skills and information, and you’ll need to recall these and apply them in high-pressure situations.

You will see distressing scenes, such as people who are injured, in danger, or deceased. These experiences can be hard to deal with and may affect your mental health.

It’s important to think about how you might cope with stress and difficult situations before applying.

You won’t be alone. Support is available, including mental health services, counselling, and help from other firefighters. If you choose this job, there will be people and resources to support you.

The best way to fight fires is to stop them before they start.

To do this, we focus on educating the public, including: 

• school and community group visits 
• working with local councils to ensure the protection of vulnerable people
• carrying out inspections of commercial and industrial premises
• providing safety advice to community groups and families
• visiting people's homes, assessing fire risks, and providing advice on protection
• working with emergency services like the police, ambulance, and coastguard, offering specialised skills

It may  come as a  surprise to you but firefighters don’t just respond to 999 emergency calls to put out fires.  The range of incidents that we attend is much broader than that.

In addition to fires, firefighters respond to:

• road traffic collisions
• hazardous materials incidents
• water rescue operations
• flooding incidents
• rail incidents
• suicides or other recovery of fatalities
• other emergency or disaster situations

In addition to recruiting people with the right physical and mental abilities to perform well as firefighters we require everyone who works for the SFRS to meet the highest ethical and professional standards.

Our values:

• safety
• teamwork
• innovation
• respect

During the selection process we will be testing your suitability to join our team. We are looking for people who:

• are great team players
• value the contributions of others
• want to make a positive impact on the lives of others inside and outside of the SFRS actively contributes to an inclusive workplace

Employees have access to many benefits designed to support your health, wellbeing, and work-life balance. These include:

• a competitive salary and pension scheme
• a range of excellent policies, including those that promote a work-life balance, maternity & paternity leave
• excellent training and career progression opportunities
• generous leave entitlement that increases with service
• access to an employee benefits programme for savings and discounts.
• access to the Fire Fighters Charity and the SFRS Family Support Trust
• access to gym facilities and health and wellbeing services
• access to a range of employee networks