Thinking ahead.

Most people probably wouldn’t associate career progression with the fire service. But the truth is we can offer our firefighters a wide range of opportunities to further themselves.

Join us and, like all new recruits, you’ll start out as a firefighter. But where you go from there is entirely up to you. The most logical step would be move into a leadership role. And the following will give you a good idea of how you’d progress:

Crew Commander

This involves taking charge of a pump (fire engine), which usually has a team of four. As well as providing leadership and support at incidents, you’ll oversee your crew’s development and help with the management and administration of a Watch (the shift you and your crew are scheduled in for).

Watch Commander

As the title suggests, you’ll be responsible for a particular Watch. The number of crews working on a Watch can vary but on average you’ll be managing between 4-11 people. When called to an emergency, you’ll take charge of and provide tactical guidance to your crews and support the Incident Manager. You’ll also plan and deliver fire safety education within the community, and help all members of your watch achieve their development goals.

Station Commander

Responsible for the overall performance of a station (or in some cases stations), you’ll motivate and support your team to ensure the service they’re providing is of the highest standard. You’ll also work with a range of stakeholders (both inside and outside the service) to plan and deliver fire safety education within the communities you’re helping to protect.

If you’re really ambitious (and really talented) who knows, you could make it all the way up to County Fire Officer & Chief Executive, where you’ll be in charge of the whole fire service. And before you ask, yes, it’s been done before. Just ask Barry our current Chief Executive.

However, if management’s not your thing you can stay a firefighter and broaden your expertise in other ways. You could qualify as a trauma technician (someone who provides expert care at the scene of accidents), for example. Or you could train as a specialist driving instructor.

You could even move into a non-operational role. Paul was a firefighter for eight years but then decided he was ready for something different and moved into our Corporate Communications team. Among other things, he now helps to promote our work through local media. To get a better idea of the range of support teams who help to make our service run smoothly, go to our Roles page.