What does a firefighter do?

In this episode we chat to both a wholetime and on-call firefighter. From the physical demands to the emotional challenges, we cover the realities of life as an emergency worker

Participants

• Emily Slade - podcast producer and host, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ
• Matt Hill - wholetime firefighter, Essex County Fire and Rescue Service
• Tom Easter - on call firefighter, Essex County Fire and Rescue Service

Transcript

Matt Hill: As a firefighter, you then progress to crew manager, to watch manager, to station manager. You know that pathway is very clearly there, and internally, that process is very clearly laid out that

Emily Slade: Hello and welcome back to Future You, the podcast brought to you by graduate careers experts, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ»ÆƬ. I’m your host Emily Slade and in this episode I chat to Matt, a wholetime firefighter and Tom an on call firefighter.

Matt Hill: So my name is Matt, and I am a firefighter on blue watch, Southend. 

Emily Slade: Amazing. What does blue watch mean? 

Matt Hill: So within our service, we have four watch colors that are then our different shift patterns. So it's blue, red, white and green, and then we just alternate in a pattern of off shift. So I'm on blue watch, so we're on two days, two night and then four off shift pattern. So when I'm on my day shifts, then white watch come on the nights, and then when I'm on my night shifts, red watch on their days. And so kind of rolls like in a pattern like that.  

Emily Slade: And it's fairly consistent? 

Matt Hill: Yeah, absolutely, yeah, yeah. So it's two days, two nights, four on, two days, two nights, four off there.  

Emily Slade:  What does your educational journey look like? 

Matt Hill: So I went to a local grammar school and went there for sixth form as well. I was gonna - well,  I got into art college, Art University, but I ended up not going to university because I wanted to go out and earn some money, I think, and decided to work instead. So just went straight to work. After Sixth Form, worked for local charities, small charities, worked for local council. And then 10 years ago, I started working for the fire service, non operationally. So I was worked at our headquarters, doing community safety stuff, working with charities and a similar kind of what was similar to what I was doing before, but for the fire service, and then a couple of years ago, wanted to see a different side of the service, but also wanted the career opportunities that the operational side gave. So became operational just over two years ago. 

Emily Slade: Okay, so when you say working for the fire service, was that more of an admin role. 

Matt Hill: So it started off kind of a coordination role within the community safety so I'd be organising different events within the community through the fire service. And then through my experience, I kind of became management within within that prevention department. So yeah,  at the end, when I left non operational I was managing a few teams of people doing different community safety activities, so I got those promotions just through the experience, really, yeah, 

Emily Slade: Amazing. And then anyone can make the choice to go from non operational to operational.  

Matt Hill: Yeah absolutely. I mean, I was, I wasn't given any kind of compensation for being already working for the service, I had to do the same process that anyone would do anyway. So yeah, I still had to go through the same process that a member of the public would have to do. Just because I worked there didn't mean anything particularly So, yeah, I had to apply. I had to do the when I applied. There was a psychometric test that we had to do, so an online test to kind of assess your behaviours. And some games. So your kind of risk taking behaviour and the games and how you behaved under stress during the games, I think it was, that's what it was looking for. So pass that, and then had a physical assessment and an interview, and then, yes, that was quite a long process. 

Emily Slade: Oh yeah, when you say games, what do you mean? 

Matt Hill: So it was actual games. So there was one that I remember that was something like, If you blew up a certain shape of balloon to a certain size. You just kept pressing with the mouse, and a certain shape would give you cash in money, but if you pop it, blew it up too much, it would pop. So it was about your risk taking. So you knew that this particular balloon gave you more money, but it would pop quicker, so you would only you wouldn't be as risk taking in how much you blew it up. I guess that's what it was looking for. But then, like a normal shaped balloon, you could inflate loads, but it would only give you a small amount of money, so it didn't matter if it popped so much. 

Emily Slade: Why did you take that choice to move over? You mentioned career opportunities, but like you know, why the fire service to begin with? 

Matt Hill: Well, because I, because I already worked here, I liked the organisation, you know, I liked what they stood for. I liked everyone that I previously worked with. And luckily, when I was non operational, I did get to work with a lot of operational people. And all of the activities that we used to deliver were on fire stations. So it was always working with watches, always working with different fire stations, so I felt like I had a good understanding of what I would kind of be putting myself in for. And then also, I just wanted to be a bit more hands on. You know, when you see the trucks going out, it's exciting. Anything, oh, that, you know that could I think I could do that? I think if I personally, I wanted to show that I could do it for myself as well. You know that I was able to be a firefighter, but definitely the career opportunities is something that is attractive because it's it's so clearly laid out the rank structure of our organisation. You know, as a firefighter, you then progress to crew manager, to watch manager, to station manager. You know that pathway is very clearly there, and internally, that process is very clearly laid out that. You know, if you want to get that promotion, then you need to demonstrate these things, and that's there at every level. So it just, it just felt like, you know, I've got a 30 year career in front of me, and I've got a very clear structure that I can follow if I want to. So that was quite attractive. 

Emily Slade: Yeah, that's fair. What does a typical day look like as an operational firefighter? 

Matt Hill: You know, every day is obviously different, because we don't know what's going to happen particularly, but there are some structured things that we have to do, you know, like on our first day, we do inventories of the whole trucks, and depending on what day of the week it is, there's different equipment that we have to test us to make sure it's still safe and working, and that, you know, we're comfortable with using these things. And then obviously, in between all of the shouts, which we don't know what they're going to be, we'll do some training in the drill yard. So every station has a tower, you know, that we can practice ladders on. And we there's hydrants in the yard that we can use to do water drills in the yard as well. But we might use any piece of equipment off the truck and just do an exercise with it, just so that we're all happy and comfortable with using it. We also have loads of old cars out the back that we can cut up and practice cutting up cars and things. So yeah, it's really good just to get your hands on the tools, especially if it hasn't been a while that you haven't used a certain piece of equipment, that you're just getting yourself back familiar as a familiar familiarization with it. So yeah, so in between that as well, we also will just go out in the community and do prevention and protection work. So prevention is our kind of home safety activities, where we would go and fit alarms. Often we get some from headquarters, where they're like this. These are in your area. Can you book these and go and do the visits? But it might be. For example, we had a fire last week, and we would then knock just on the neighbours houses around that incident. So we call it a targeted intervention. So because there's been on this street, we're gonna go and knock 10 houses either side, opposite, you know, and just check in. And actually, last week, when we did that, every house I knocked on didn't have smoke alarms. So we would then we carry them on the truck. So I could then be like, well, I've got them now. So, you know, these are yours to take and fit. So it's really, you know, important stuff that happens, because it's surprising still, how many people don't have working alarms. So yeah, we'll do, we'll do home safety visits, and then we also do business inspections of commercial premises, just to make sure that they've got the right, you know, fire extinguishing media, that they've got smoke alarms as well. All their exits are clear for staff members, for public they're using the using the buildings. So yeah, we're gonna do those visits as well. So they're always busy days. And even if we might not have lots of shouts, we're doing lots of other stuff as well. 

Emily Slade: So you call it a shout. I assume that's when the bell goes. So is that a direct line? Somebody's called 999, and it comes straight to the station?  

Matt Hill: So it'll go straight to our control room space based at our headquarters, and then our control room at headquarters will then mobilise us on station. So if they they will obviously know where we are and where what the address is, and they'll mobilise the nearest, the nearest truck, to go to it.  

Emily Slade: What happens then? So the bell goes and talk me through it, what happens? 

Matt Hill: So there's a really loud bell that goes down, and all the lights come on as well, just in case there were lights off, obviously. Um, so all the lights come on, the bells go down, and the idea is that within at least two minutes, you're dressed on the truck and leaving the leaving the bay doors. So we also have, then what we call an MDT on the truck, which is a mobile data terminal, and on that is a map and has all the messages from control coming up on it, and that will then plot where the incident is. It's not like a GPS. It doesn't give you a route, it just shows you where it is. So obviously, our knowledge as firefighters and especially the drivers of the trucks, they need to kind of understand what's the best way to get to these places. So lots of us are local to Southend, so we know the area. We've grown up here. We lived here. But some people aren't familiar, so they have to learn the station grounds, the station risks. And you know what the particular names of places that we need to get to, they all have to learn all of that, so that we get there quickly. Um, yeah. And then obviously we have, then we'll get there as quick as we can. As I said, the messages from control come up on the MDT, so we can see that, if it is a fire domestic, what we've got, what we're going to Is it a flat? Is it in a high rise? Is it in just a normal domestic property? And then also, if they're getting multiple calls from public so multiple people are seeing it. We're getting the information. So we know on the back of the truck that this is very likely going to be something when we when we arrive, because if they're saying we've had five calls now of people seeing smoke coming out of a window, then something's happening. Sometimes, if we're just getting one call, it might just be a, you know, a false alarm, and that's and that's fine, but we've been no, we're getting multiple messages, then something's happening, though. 

Emily Slade: Yeah? So could not everyone drive the trucks?  

Matt Hill: So you have to do an LGV license and a blue light license to be able to drive the trucks. Yeah? So not every firefighter does it, but most, when they get the opportunity, will go for their driving. I haven't done mine yet. Before you ask, yeah, I've only been in a couple of years. And when you start as a firefighter, you start as an apprentice, and that process takes about 18 months to finish your apprenticeship. So I've only been the last is coming up to about a year ish that I've finished it. So I've just been comfortable finishing my apprentice. The ship. And just, you know, having less to do is which is learning to do, which is quite nice. And then the next stage is driving. 

Emily Slade: What are some of the best qualities and skills that someone who would want to become a firefighter must possess? 

Matt Hill: So I think one of the best qualities is, is having a sense of calmness when attending incidents. We have to have that speed when we're getting ready for things like when the bills go down, we need to be quick. We need to get on the truck quickly, and we need to be alert and understand what's happening and think about what's what we need to think about when we get to the incident. You know, if I know I'm going to door to a domestic fire, this is what I need to do, or if I'm going to an animal rescue, this is what I need to get ready in my mind, you know. So you are thinking quickly, and it's but it's having that sense of calmness when you get there, especially with things like house fires, when you were putting on our brief breathing apparatus sets, there is a methodical way of doing that safely and correctly, that you need to be focused on that. And whether there's a house on fire right next to you, you know that's got red flames coming out of it, you need to be focusing what you're doing to get ready to go into there. So you do have to have that sense of calm and listen to what's going on around because people will be shouting at you. Officers will be telling you what you need to go and do in there. You're going in in a pair, so you need to make sure your person you're going in with is okay and they're listening, and they're safe and they're happy. So it's having that being able to manage your kind of anxiety, because they are, is an anxious situation to be in, and that you can just calm yourself and listen and think, I know what I'm doing. I've got the training. I've done it before. Yeah. So that's really important. 

Emily Slade: Are there any memorable or impactful emergencies that you've responded to?  

Matt Hill: I think they'll always be ones that stick with you, you know. And there's certainly the more traumatic things you know you're you're never going to really be truly prepared for until they happen. And certainly in training school, they are very conscious of not using scare tactics in that kind of trauma triggering of what you're going to see, because it's just unnecessary. And nowadays, when you become operational, you're you're put on the stage and after your training, if something is happening that is more traumatic, you know, and you're needed to see it, then, then you'll see it. But if you don't need to go and look at something, then you won't. But, you know, I think obviously those things do stick in your mind more just because they are the most unusual. You know, it's not they stay that you see something more difficult. And they will, they will be ones that I remember, but I think actually the other thing that I certainly remember more is the ones where you feel that you've made a real difference, you know, and you've actually made a tangible outcome better for somebody. And that might not necessarily be putting out a big, huge fire, because that looks the most dramatic and exciting. It might just be that, you know, we were called to assist an ambulance, and we've gained entry for them, and then helped an elderly person who's stuck, you know, get into that ambulance. And you know, you've, you've genuinely helped that person get care. And that's also really important. And feels like we've done, we did a really good job there. It wasn't, it's not going to make the papers, yeah, but, you know, it felt like we've made some really tangible, tangible decisions to that person. So I think they probably stick with me just as much as the more difficult ones. Because you think, I suppose it's the polarisation of it, both, isn't it, the really sad stuff and also the really nice stuff. When you think this is really nice and that was really difficult. So they all stick with you really, 

Emily Slade: Yeah, definitely. Is the danger always present in your mind? Do you always worry that? You know, could you die every time that bell rings? 

Matt Hill: I think, yeah, there is definitely a fear. I think obviously the most, the most dangerous things we'll go into are going to be fires. You know, that is going to be, and especially big industrial fires, you know, you know, big warehouse fires, you know, where there is so much more risk in we don't know what's in there, there's the risk of, obviously, getting disorientated, and within these places, obviously, our training is very structured. In the we are very risk averse, obviously. So we've got so many things in place to prevent, actually, us, us getting injured and all losing a life. Obviously, in the past, firefighters have lost their lives and fires and in incidents because, but that's but all of those incidents have now led to the training we now have because we've learned from all of those things. So yes, there is always risk, but I've never personally felt like I'm on the knife edge of being in danger, you know, because I'm feel like I'm we are drilled into us how to be safe, and if actually I always felt unsafe, I wouldn't do it, you know? I wouldn't go into that building or and I would say to my officer, I'm not going in there, sorry. Like, that doesn't look safe, yeah. And I have my right to do that, you know, obviously there's a balance of being doing as you're told and being instructed. But if things feel unsafe, then you have your right to be like, let's get ourselves out of here. This doesn't feel right, you know, yeah. So that's important. 

Emily Slade: Definitely. It's such an interesting place to be, in my head that you're going into a place that hasn't been risk assessed beyond, you know, beyond what you can see on the outside, yeah, yeah. And so then afterwards, is there a lot of paperwork? 

Matt Hill: Yeah, I mean, if there's a lot, if there's larger instance, then there'll be formal debriefs about what we all did. You know, if there was, say, 10 fire engines, we call it like a 10 pump job. So there were 10 pumps on the job, you know, there's likely to be a formal debrief, because there's loads of people involved. There's likely to be in loads of other agencies, like ambulance, police, you know, whoever that those formal debriefs are important just to, just to check on learning, you know, did we do that? Okay, was there anything we could have done better? You know, things like that. But often with day to day incidents that aren't so large and, you know, noteworthy, I suppose there'll be what we call hot debriefs, where you'll just do it on the dual on the incident ground, you know, you'll come out the incident, you'll just chat with the people on maybe one or two trucks. Just say, everyone all right, did that go? Okay? Anything you want to say? So those kind of things are done more informally, just to make sure that everyone's right. But I mean, even if it sounds like, you know, if it's just one truck, that you're not doing anything that important, but you are potentially, you know, just because it's not a big 10 pump job doesn't mean you're not potentially seeing difficult things. So, you know, I certainly this happens to me often. When we go to just one truck, or go to something, you'll see something, or you'll help another agency, and it will be difficult. And the first thing the officer says when we get back on the truck is, does anyone need trim, which is our trauma risk management. So, you know, and that was, is a, there's an offer that goes to every firefighter to make sure that if they do need to talk to someone about what they've seen, that that's there. So, and that happens really often, we just get back on the truck, and it's a very, you know, informal debrief about what you've done. But, like, one of the main things is, does anyone need support because they want to write? And then if everyone's fine, then that's okay, but it's there available, very, very obviously, which is good.  

Emily Slade: Yeah that's really good. And then, yeah, I suppose, how do you balance the mental and the physical sides of the job?  

Matt Hill: I think we, as a, you know, as an organisation, as a as a group of people, you know, as a society, we're getting better at just talking about not being okay sometimes, and that's really good, and we're really good at that in the fire service now, I think. But certainly, just the relationship you build with your watch, with the people you work with every day is what gets you going, you know, and getting keeps you feeling okay. You know, everyone has that kind of, like family attitude of just like, winding each other up and, you know, being silly when it's okay to be silly, and being serious when you need to be serious, but then also being a listening ear if you need to be for someone that actually you can tell that maybe is ever having a bit of a bad day or finding things more difficult. And you know, we also all have our own personal lives that, you know, have stuff that happens in and you know, work can also trigger stuff that's happened to us personally, and all vice versa. So I think it's just having that openness to talk to one another, which we do just naturally, because you're with each other so much, you know, you know, you're sleeping in a dorm room together, you're eating around the mess table together. You're doing training, you know, you're always doing it together. So having that relationship is really important, just to say, even just chat about things very naturally.  

Tom Easter: So my name is Tom Easter. I'm an on call firefighter here at Halsted for Essex County Fire and Rescue.  

Emily Slade: So what does on call mean? 

Tom Easter: So on call means that we respond to incidents via an alert system like pager, rather than sitting on station like a whole time crew would do that. 

Emily Slade: So does that mean you can be on call at any time. Or do you have shifts? 

Tom Easter: Yeah. So we've got a minimum requirement we have to reach. Mine is 90 hours a week, which is quite a lot, but obviously I can do that from my bed and do that in the evenings the weekends. So my rotator looks like midnight through to about seven in the morning. I think I'd do my day job. I would then come back on call maybe five, six in the evening through till midnight, and it starts again. And I do that probably seven days a week, and then Sunday might book a few more hours in if I'm at home doing nothing, cleaning the house, something like that. It's quite full on. But generally, I'm not doing a lot because I'm at home. I live literally over the other side of that field there, so you just kind of worked in around my life. Really easy. To be fair, it does sound like a lot, though. 

Emily Slade: It sounds like a lot because I guess, I suppose, if you're not called in, yes, you're fine, yeah. But if you are, you could be working, you know, countless hours in a day. 

Tom Easter: Yeah, sometimes, like, we'll get a call at 3/4 in the morning, and we'll get back for seven. That's sort of time I'll be breaking up and thinking, like, down to work, and it's just got continue that day now and go to go to work, and then yeah, get sometimes we just got call after call, and then sometimes might not see a fire engine for three weeks. So works that way. How do you stay on top of practice? So down here, we obviously drill on a Thursday night. So we come down, we do training, do all the weekends and machines, make sure everything's up to scratch. And then yeah, we do drills out in the yards, putting data up, doing our pumping, all that kind of thing. And then there's a lot of classroom based stuff as well, which we go through. 

Emily Slade: Nice, how do you sleep at night thinking that that page is going to go off? 

Tom Easter: So when I first joined up, it was a bit like that Homer Simpson thing, when he's a he's a firefighter for a bit, and you do kind of think, oh my god, it's gonna go off, but it very quickly just becomes a part of your life at the back of your head. And then, you know, you go out and do that. I mean, we're quite a busy station here. I think we did about 450 calls last year, which is quite a lot for an on call station, um, but obviously a lot of them are daytime. A lot of them you might get just in the summer for quiet sometimes in the winter. So, yeah, it just becomes quite a normal day. And don't really think about it that often. 

Emily Slade: Okay, let's go back to the beginning. What's your educational journey look like? 

Tom Easter: So education for me, not great. I am not very academic at all. When I was in I think I was 13 years old, sort of year 9 to 10 I had a really serious accident, which means I basically had a year out school, and when I did go back to school, I was doing half days just the twice, because going to hospital and having rehabilitation in the afternoons. So I basically missed a year and a half, 18 months of of school, so I was really far behind. Didn't really do that well in my GCSEs, but I did enough to get into college, and I wouldn't again, study music, which is the only thing I really enjoyed in school. I never went to college, because I found I got myself a job driving diggers and pushing wheelbarrows and things, and I just really enjoyed the practical side of work. So I did that for about five years, and then sort of moved more into carpentry based stuff, which is my primary role now. 

Emily Slade: So you became, you have, do you have your own business, like a freelance carpenter? Yeah. 

Tom Easter: So now I've got a business. We're in our 10th year of trading now, and it's going from strength to strength. Yeah, we've got got a head above the parapet through the process, which is good and still going strong. So yeah, onwards and upwards of that. 

Emily Slade: So how did you move into the fire service?  

Tom Easter: I was doing a kitchen for a guy that actually worked here, and he said, Oh, you actually might be quite good at this job. You know, you quite confident, and you're very practical. What do you think? And this was the day after Grenfell, so we're just sitting there at lunch chatting. And I said, Yeah, I wouldn't mind doing that. I did try and apply here when I was 18, funny enough, but it didn't go anywhere, which is probably a good thing, means I could go and experience a bit of life. Really, if I was held to a pager at 18, I wouldn't have had half the anecdotes I have now. But, um, yeah, I think it was. It was a good I didn't get in at 18, but yeah, it was, it's good now, and doing all the basic training and things. It's it's such a rewarding thing to do. So yeah, I really love my role here now. It's great.  

Emily Slade: And was that a simple application? Go through the interview process, go through the practical assessment? 

Tom Easter: Yeah, So I came down here one Thursday night, and I spoke to a few of the lads here, and they sort of sign you up and they help you and say, oh yeah, you need to email. I think there's a strength test. Had to go and do a bleep test and we have to do that annually as well to stay in shape. And then once you get all that part, you then go up for your basic training, which is was two weeks out of real work to go and do that.  

Emily Slade: So can you talk me through a typical day? Let's say that your pager goes off when you're on call. What does that day look like? 

Tom Easter: Okay, well, I can describe yesterday. So yesterday, I went to work as normal in the morning, went and hung some doors and done some bits and pieces of work. I came in here about four o'clock yesterday afternoon, and all the alerts went down, and we got put the standby to break through, which basically means we're gonna sit on their station and wait for a call. So I did that till about eight o'clock last night, and then we come home. So it's just a very long day, but yeah, basically eight days or eight which is alright, but yes, it's not too bad, really. The alert goes off. You come down here, and you find out what the call is and whether you all needed to go or not. I'm a driver down here now, so you always, obviously always got to have a driver for that machine. That machines, we've got three here, so I don't go on every single call. If it's something like persons reported, like house buyer or someone trapped, then it's just the first people that turn up that take that machine out. So it's generally, I'll be on that because I live so close.  

Emily Slade: Okay, how do you manage? Let's say you've had an intense, traumatizing night on call, and then you don't have time to go to bed. You have to go straight into your day job. How do you support yourself? Do you have access to support?  

Tom Easter: Yeah that actually happens quite often. To be fair, quite often. I'll be woken up at two, three in the morning. We'll go into a job, and whilst I'll come back at waking up time. Luckily for me, all my colleagues that work with me in my primary employment, they're, like, really supportive. So I've had it before where I've been on a landfill site trying to put out a fire, and my mates dripping out the kitchen for me because he wants to keep the project on track, and I'll just turn up and do the last bits. Really so, but really the support network at my primary employment, they just really helped me through it all.  

Emily Slade: Oh amazing. How do you deal with the mental health side of things? Does that affect you at all? Or are you quite good at navigating.  

Tom Easter: Yeah, I think I'm a fairly self aware person, so I don't tend to struggle too much with my mental health, which is a good thing. But there's a very good support network down here. Of all the guys, we all sort of get together and chat. We've had some really horrible experiences in the past with like RTCs and things, and I find that actually, just getting together and talking about what we've seen and just getting out there, kind of that works for everyone down here. And if that's not enough, obviously we've got trim practitioners. These people ring you up and they'll basically talk you through the incident and anything you're upset about or cut up about, you can talk to them, and they're really good at that sort of thing. I've never used the service myself, but I do know a lot of people that have and it is really invaluable for the way that we progress forward. 

Emily Slade: Are there any myths about firefighting that you would like to debunk?  

Tom Easter: A lot of people think that we just rescued cats out of trees, which we have done, and it does happen often. In fact, I think there's a card in there from a cat from last week I'll show you later. But yeah, we don't rescue many cats out of trees, and we don't just do fires. There's a lot of other things we do alongside that, like RTCs, lots of stamp posts, things like that, really. But yeah, and I think the other thing as well, a lot of people think that we're volunteers, and obviously we don't do that. We just get a retainer plus call out. So that's the big difference between like us and like an American fire service. Obviously, they're all volunteers in certain parts, aren't they, so that's probably the biggest myth to debunk. 

Emily Slade: What's the most unexpected thing you've had to do as part of your role? 

Tom Easter: I didn't think I'd be working with children or the community half as much as we do. We do an awful lot of like school visits, fakes, things like that. That's something I never really thought about when I signed up, but it's probably the most rewarding part of the job. Now, like working with the children is really good. We do fire cadets down here and, yeah, just giving back to young people and inspiring them is a really giving moment. I didn't think we'd have. I really enjoy it. 

Emily Slade: Yeah, what's your favorite part of the job? 

Tom Easter: It is quite a buzz, to be fair. Like to come down and go and do something kind of exciting. For me, I think the driving is probably the most fun I have. You know, generally, driving big fire engine around on blue lights is a lot of fun. But yeah, the thing I enjoy the most is probably just, you know, we have such good community down here, mill building so well, and it is just like a family, really. So that's the best part of the job. 

Emily Slade: Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for your time today.  

Tom Easter: You’re welcome.  

Emily Slade: Thanks again to Matt and Tom for their time. If you'd like to learn more about becoming a firefighter head to prosepects.ac.uk. If you enjoyed the episode feel free to leave us a review on Apple or Spotify. Thank you as always for listening and good luck on your journey to future you.

Notes on transcript

This transcript was produced using a combination of automated software and human transcribers and may contain errors. The audio version is definitive and should be checked before quoting.

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