DEVON and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service is urgently seeking to recruit people who would like to become retained firefighters in Crediton - specifically those who will be available for calls during the day.

Potential applicants need to live or work within five minutes (driving at normal road speed) of Crediton Fire Station, which is located in Charlotte Street, Crediton.

They will need to be able to be flexible in their work to ensure they are able to respond to an incident whenever they are needed.

Retained firefighters are a group of men and women who do ordinary jobs, but are ready to respond to an emergency incident the moment their alerter goes off.

They work as part of a dedicated team ready to face any emergency.

They are trained and developed to a high standard so that they can save lives, rescue people from road traffic collisions and undertake community safety work to make a real difference within their local communities.

Retained firefighters at Crediton are paid a salary based on their availability.

The shortage of retained crew available in Crediton during the daytime has been causing serious concern recently.

On one or two occasions, there have not been enough retained crew available in Crediton to man the station's second appliance.

Fortunately, this situation is rare, but on those occasions, where a second appliance has been required, it has been sent from Exeter.

As can be assumed, this situation is not ideal as it can add vital minutes onto the response time for a second appliance to attend an incident.

Crediton Station Officer Mark Smith has issued an appeal for more people, who could be available during daytime hours, to come forward to become firefighters.

He explained: "Firefighters are normal people who live or work in the community.

"They are builders, health workers, window cleaners, housewives, postal workers and shop workers – in fact they come from all and every walk of life.

"The only thing they have in common is that they have all decided to put something back into the community by becoming trained as firefighters.

"Now it is the firefighters themselves that need your help. There simply aren't enough of them to cover daytimes, due to people leaving, moving away, illness and for other reasons.

"There is a real shortage of new volunteers and we need people to come forward."