On 8th February Matt Scott and Sarah Wheeler, respectively Commander and Watch manager of Shaftesbury Fire Station, came to talk to us about the Fire Service and how it works in Shaftesbury in particular.
They arrived with a mountain of equipment – demonstrating how specialised and bespoke it is – every item tailor-made to fit its owner by specialist providers in Bristol and all over Europe. The talk was extremely informal – really a question and answer session throughout, and the undoubted high spot was when an eager volunteer was dressed up from head to foot in all the gear, including breathing apparatus.
The session is impossible to summarise because the Q&A format meant that the topics covered ranged from cats in trees to very silly people in trees via policy, Novichok, structure, PTSD, women in the service and the variety of cars in the Fire Station car park to pick just a random few. I think a big eyeopener for all of us was the particular structure of the Service, unique to the UK, an all-paid professional service with a mix of a small number of full-timers and a large majority of part-timers.SWe don’t rely, as many countries do to a greater or lesser extent, on volunteers and this has a big impact on professionalism.
It was a terrific talk, obviously much enjoyed by the members and, of course, the lunch was generous and delicious as always.
Julia Holman
Speaker Secretary