Alison

How fit do you have to be?

Well, a good all-round level of fitness is important, and you need to have a certain amount of upper body strength in order to lift the equipment. I used to play a lot of team sports, but it’s only when you get the full kit on that you realise just how demanding the role is.

Some of the key exercises you have to be able do include push ups, pull ups and sit ups. I found them quite hard at first but I went to the gym to practice and, after just a couple of weeks, I found I could manage the required level without too much trouble.

To give you an idea of the level of fitness you need, during training we were asked to complete the following: a Bleep test (which is basically a series of shuttle runs), hose running (to test upper body strength & fitness), shuttle walking with heavy barrels, and a 100m walk carrying a ladder (100kilos) with 4 people.

Is it difficult being a woman firefighter, come across any cynicism?

No, I’ve never experienced any cynicism. It was always going to be a challenge; I mean you only have to look at the ratio between male and female firefighters. But that’s part of the reason why I joined - I want to help readdress that balance. At the end of the day, you become a fire fighter for the love of the job and you are constantly being rewarded for what you do – saving people’s lives and property. And it’s often the little things that make the biggest difference, like saving someone’s goldfish or dog, or when you visit children in the community and see how happy they are to meet you and look around the fire engines.

What qualities do you need for your role?

It’s essential that you’re a team player. Pretty much every part of the job involves working together in some form or another. I look after a ‘pump’ (fire engine) with five other firefighters – so it’s vital we work well together and trust each other. I feel that my experience with team sports before I joined the service has really helped with that. It is also important to be disciplined. You need to dress smart, have polished boots and be polite. And, of course, you need to have a good level of fitness – this is a physical job after all.

How did you find the initial training?

Pretty demanding, especially the physical testing and the discipline. Plus, when I began, I was scared of heights! So, during weekends, I tried to practice at home by putting a ladder up against the side of my house. If you’re claustrophobic or scared of confined spaces, you might struggle with some parts of the training. For example, at one point, we had to complete a ‘rat run’ in small cages with full kit on.

At what point did it sink in that you were a firefighter?

When I got my uniform! I felt I had finally ‘done it’ after 18 months of hard training.