Brigade needs recruits

Retained firefighters at Herstmonceux are currently on the lookout for anyone who lives or works in or around the village to join their dedicated team of on-call lifesavers.

Sub officer John Message, a painter and decorator by day, has been a retained firefighter in the village for 36 years.

'I was a young lad after some real excitement when I joined up,' said John. 'That's the reason I do it '“ being part of a team and helping people when they're in trouble.

'Ideally, we need 12 people on call 24 hours a day, but at the moment we have seven. This is the first time in all my years when we've been so stretched for recruits. It's starting to get embarrassing.'

When the Herstmonceux brigade is needed, all members are paged and they must then make their way to the fire station as quickly as possible. All are paid a retaining fee and they are paid extra for every incident they attend.

To help attract more local people to the team at Herstmonceux, an open evening will be held on Monday, April 7. There, people can find out more about the exciting job and what it entails.

Barbara Atkinson has been with the local service for seven years. 'I think lots of women are put off joining the fire service because they think it's a man's job,' said Barbara. 'People always talk about "firemen", not "firefighters".

'But the reality is that women can do the job just as well as men. Jobs like heavy lifting are always done by teams of three or four '“ you're never expected to do anything like that on your own.

'If women only came along and gave it a go before they made up their minds, I think we would have many more recruits.'

Barbara reckons the ideal recruits would be mums of children who attend Herstmonceux Primary School, which is just over the road from the fire station. The brigade receives an average of one call per week, which could be for anything from a small blaze to a raging inferno or a road traffic accident.

Sub officer John Message said: 'I had to go to a house to help a child who had trapped his fingers in the door last week. Whichever way he pulled his hand there was going to be some damage and his mother was very worried. The boy was only two.'

Station manager Dave Yates added: 'It may seem like a minor incident, but to that woman our service meant the world.'