The Fire Service is about a lot more than getting called out to put out fires. The service that’s provided to the public includes a huge variety of areas, although an emergency response to burning buildings is one of the most well known, and most dangerous jobs.

If you ask the average passer by on the street what a fire officer does, the likely responses will typically be stereotypes like rescuing cats from trees. While that’s definitely been accomplished by many a fireman, there are plenty of other responsibilities too.

Attending Road Traffic Accidents

Sadly, there are still too many collisions on our country’s roads. Typically you will see a fire appliance in attendance at serious accidents, first due to the risk of fire, but also to provide support to the ambulance service if casualties need to be cut from the wreckage, or to help the police establish exactly what happened.

While one accident is too many, the number of RTAs has improved dramatically over time, and the chance of fatalities or serious injury reduced due to the advancements in technology, like crumple zones in vehicles.

Fire Prevention Awareness

Most services across the country try to be visible in the community, offering advice on how to make homes safer places to be. Simple changes like fitting smoke alarms can be the difference between life and death when a fire breaks out.

Advice To The Construction Industry

A lot of resources have been invested into making the buildings of the future safer. By way of example, thirty years ago, it was common to see asbestos being used in buildings as fire protection, however it’s now avoided and removed due to the health risks associated with it. There’s also effort put into planning escape routes at the earliest stages of building design, especially in high rise construction projects. That’s relevant for the build stage itself as much as the finished layout because there are often activities such as welding occurring on building sites which can easily ignite flammable materials by mistake. It’s important that the worker’s safety is therefore considered as much as that of the ultimate occupants of the building.

People Stuck In Strange Places

Often they’re not emergency call outs, but it’s usually appreciated if there’s a quick response when someone is stuck. In a serious example, it may be a climber that’s fallen onto a ledge and may be injured. Less severe call outs often involve children and their inquisitive minds, like getting their small fingers stuck in the plug hole at bath time.

All call outs are treated with the utmost importance, and sometimes have to be prioritised. Someone in a burning building will always get priority over someone stuck in a lift at work due to the threat to life, no matter how much the latter individual suffers from claustrophobia. That’s also why you’ll see a lot of emphasis put on educating the public about the real danger caused by prank calls. What seems like a joke on the way home from the pub won’t seem so amusing in the cold light of day after someone is seriously injured (or worse) in a real emergency situation that has had a delayed response.

Your fire service are here for you, you never know when you’ll really need them!