Parade celebrates on-call Hampshire fire crews

The event by Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service marked the achievement of the 18 men and women who have become firefighters in the past year and vowed to give up their free time to help others.

On-call firefighters train in four modules during their development, attend a weekly drill night and make themselves available for agreed hours around jobs, family responsibilities and other commitments.

The ceremony included fire control staff marking the completion of their development programme/

It was attended by deputy chief fire officer Andy Bowers and Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority chairman Chris Carter.

Ty Whitlock, head of learning and development,  said: '˜It is a great pleasure to see the evolution of the next generation of firefighters.

'˜These people, who all have other jobs or commitments, are an inspiration and a testament to what is at the heart of every firefighter '“ the desire to help others.

'˜The skills that these people have learned and honed will help keep the people of Hampshire safe for years to come.'

The service has a group of retained duty system officers who promote the role including the prospect of being on-call from a place of work.

In the past year Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service has had record intakes of on-call firefighters and started to offer training from different sites across the county.

Visit oncallfire.uk.