IF you have enthusiasm, a good level of fitness, live close to a fire station and want to support your community, being an on-call firefighter may be the job for you.

People who live within five minutes of a fire station in Oxfordshire are being encouraged to consider joining the 390 on-call firefighters in the county.

Oxfordshire County Council is recruiting local firefighters as part of the National Fire Chiefs Council's (NFCC) recruitment campaign this month.

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The role includes a range of activities from responding to emergency calls to providing prevention advice; all to help keep residents safe, reduce harm and ultimately save lives.

Rob MacDougall, chief fire officer at Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “On-call firefighters are everyday people with normal jobs and hobbies.

"On top of this they are professional firefighters who make themselves available at certain times to respond to emergency calls either from their home, their work or their community.

“Working for Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service means you become part of a close-knit team, earn extra money and receive full and ongoing training to develop a broad range of transferable work and life skills.

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“We are an inclusive organisation and are striving to reflect the communities we serve.

"We welcome applications from everyone with the right attributes, but particularly we welcome applications from female, black and minority ethnic and LGBT+ communities who are underrepresented in our operational workforce.”

Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service offers a flexible work pattern to fit around studies, work and family commitments.

If you are interested, email fire.recruitment@oxfordshire.gov.uk.

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