Senior Cambridgeshire fire officer says more on-call staff needed

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service said demand last week was unprecedented

A senior fire officer has said the service needs more on-call firefighters to deal with incidents such as last week's heatwave.

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service said last Tuesday was the busiest day since its recording system began.

On-call firefighters often have other jobs but respond to emergencies when called upon by the fire service.

Area commander Wayne Swales said Cambridgeshire was "predominately an on-call fire and rescue service".

On-call firefighters also carry out other roles for the fire service such as community work and fire safety

Last week, the service attended 52 incidents on Monday and had a further 94 callouts in the county on Tuesday.

In addition, crews attended 46 incidents in neighbouring counties over the two days.

A major incident was declared on Tuesday and again on Sunday due to the volume of incidents.

Area commander Wayne Swales said on-call staff were the "cornerstone" of the service

Mr Swales said it was "the busiest week I've experienced in 27 years in Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service".

He added: "Immense pressure, immense calls for service, it was significantly tough - the demands on us were huge."

Mr Swales said 20 of the service's 27 stations were crewed by on-call firefighters "who respond at a moment's notice".

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"We need those people to take time out of their day jobs and become on-call firefighters," he said.

"That on-call staff, we need to keep that coming for now and for the future."

Mr Swales said the service could accommodate "those hours that people can give".

"We'll always look to encompass as many people as we can," he added.

Watch commander Daniel Heathcote said conditions during the heatwave were tough for firefighters

With regards to last week, Daniel Heathcote, commander at blue watch in Huntingdon, said: "In 20 years I've never known anything like it.

"It was relentless from the start of shift all the way through to the end and beyond. We went beyond our shifts on both days."

He said he was "really proud" of how the whole service, both full-time and on-call firefighters, "came together [and] all looked out for each other".