Fire Commissioner kicks off new three-year-term by welcoming new recruits to Northamptonshire

One of Stephen Mold's first jobs after being re-elected as Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner was to welcome ten new faces into the Northamptonshire Fire & Rescue family.

The firefighters, who will be split between stations at Daventry and Rushden, were also given a tour of the new Fire HQ at Darby House in Wellingborough.

Chief Fire Officer, Darren Dovey, says the new intake represents an important boost to resources.

He added: “Some of these transferees have come from on-call service into wholetime and some have come from other brigades — which is good for us because it shows we can attract new and talented people into the organisation.

“They will help Northamptonshire Fire & Rescue Service enhance both our response operations but also to help us deliver more prevention across the whole of the county in order for us to keep everyone as safe as we possibly can.”

Mr Mold, who won last Thursday's election with a 53 per cent share of first-ballot votes to earn another three-year term as Commissioner, has funded the new recruits plus another 20 firefighters already needed to replace outgoing staff.

He said: “We made a commitment to the people of Northamptonshire that we would make them even safer.

"It’s really pleasing to hear these new recruits say they joined us because the fire service is on the move and is a good place to come and work.”

Three of the ten starters had served as on-call firefighters in Northamptonshire but wanted to make the role full-time. Seven others are moving from other areas such as Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Oxfordshire.

Laurence Jennings, 36, has started as a wholetime firefighter at Rushden after previously being on-call in Oxfordshire. Having primarily worked in marketing for 15 years, Laurence has decided to tread an entirely new path.

He said: “I have a background in corporate business and then I joined on-call and it helped me to realise that my aspiration was to do something different to the laptop and deskbound job.

“I absolutely loved being on-call and I decided to pursue it full-time and that’s what led to me moving here to Northamptonshire.”

Josh Gamble, 23, is joining Daventry Fire Station after a temporary spell as a wholetime firefighter in Staffordshire.

He added: “I’ve wanted to be a firefighter for my whole life.

"When the opportunity arose, it was clear that Northamptonshire was a rapidly growing organisation that’s only going one way. I did some research on the area and the organisation, and it’s perfect for me as there’s lots of opportunity for progression and it’s on the up.”