Donna Bowsher is a local Andover Mum and a long standing RDS Firefighter at Andover Fire Station, we asked her some questions to find out what it is like to serve as a local Firefighter.
- How long have you been an on call Firefighter here in Andover?
I’ve been an on call for 19 years at Andover fire station
- What does an On call firefighters job involve ?
Being on call means having an alerter and responding to it and getting to the fire station within 4 minutes
- What or who got you into firefighting ?
I decided when I left school firefighting could be for me as no day would ever be the same and your helping people in your local community
- What is the weirdest that youve been asked to do in your role?
Haven’t been asked to do weird stuff in my role but have attended a variety of different calls from house fires to helicopter crashes. One call that sticks out for me is a young lady we cut out from a car crash years ago and she saw me out one evening and thanked me and the other firefighters for saving her life.
- What is the best part of being an on call firefighter ?
The best part about being on call is it works around my children – I can be there for school drop off and pick up – They enjoy visiting the station too and seeing the fire engines and chatting to the other firefighters
- What skills and qualifications do you need to be able to sign up as an on call firefighter ?
On-call firefighters need to have good communication skills together with personal skills such as courage, understanding, reliability, flexibility, determination, self- motivation, common sense, commitment, enthusiasm and the ability to work within a team.
To find out more about Andover Fire station visit their Facebook page here
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