Helensburgh's Station 325 searching for new recruits

Helensburgh’s Station 325 is on the lookout for on-call firefighters as part of Fire and Rescue NSW's latest recruitment drive.

Retained (or on-call) firefighters are paid to respond to emergencies 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from their homes and workplaces where their availability allows.

FRNSW firies are trained to fight fires, deal in hazard material management, provide medical assistance, undertake urban search and rescue missions, deliver safety education, join strike teams during natural disasters, and assist the NSW Rural Fire Service during bushfires.

According to the team at Station 325 in Helensburgh, the idea of a regular day simply doesn’t exist. At the station’s helm is Captain Roslyn Thomas and Deputy Captain Lauren O’Regan, who, with almost 25 years of service between them, have seen it all.

“For me, [it’s] coming up to 18 years,” Roslyn said.

“I suppose I'd left a long-time employment in the public service, and so for me not being employed and being able to be around in my local community, then when they advertised the job, I thought I'd like to do something like that and just give back to the community.

“I was working locally at the bottle shop at that time and applied for the job and never looked back.”

Lauren’s reasoning for signing on was largely the same.

“I've been in seven years next year, and I joined because I grew up here and I'm raising my own family here, and it was an opportunity to give back to the community in a positive way and be amongst, I guess, like-minded people in a team environment,” she said.

We met for a Friday chat in September, and that week they’d already completed several home fire safety visits every day (and were preparing for four more that afternoon), held an education session for students at Otford Public School, and attended a variety of callouts, including an electrical fire at 2am that day.

They admit that staying fire fit while juggling primary employment and personal life can be tough, but the satisfaction of assisting the community make the sacrifices worthwhile.

“It's a lot of work sometimes – especially holding a management role, which we both do – but the actual firefighting side of things is very rewarding,” Roslyn said.

“If we go [to a callout], obviously somebody may be having a bad day, but it's just good that we are able to provide some sort of assistance and help them through that time.”

“I think the diversity of the incidents that we attend [is good]; it's not just fire incidents, community engagement is a big part of it too,” Lauren added.

“Prevention and education is a big piece that I'm heavily involved in and passionate about, so that's our safety visit programs where we check that everyone has working smoke alarms, school education programs, just upskilling the little kids to know what to do in the event of a fire, and just spreading that knowledge amongst the community. Hopefully, it helps someone out one day if they find themselves in that situation.”

In the lead-up to what may be a fire-prone summer, one relationship that is highly valued at Station 325 is that with Helensburgh Volunteer Rural Fire Brigade. Though Fire and Rescue NSW and the NSW Rural Fire Service are separate bodies – one a government agency, and the latter a volunteer organisation – they often find themselves working together.

For Roslyn, the two mesh so well that she holds active roles in both organisations.

“At the end of the day, we are there to do the same job,” Roslyn said.

“Obviously for us, we're the combat agency, more for structural fires – like your homes, your buildings – whereas the RFS predominantly fight bushfires, but we work very closely with them and, for us, fortunately we have a great working relationship.

“I feel very privileged to have the guys who work close with us; they're all respected, they're all knowledgeable people.

“I also am an RFS member but in Otford, so because of the different areas I can maintain both roles, [and] in the 2019 bushfires, I was deployed over a dozen times with the RFS going out to different places, and a couple of times with Fire and Rescue.”

As the recruitment drive reaches its final days, with applications closing at midnight, October 11 (with the possibility of extension), community members are encouraged to contact the station with any queries and get their applications submitted.

Both Roslyn and Lauren agree that it’s one of the best decisions they've made.

“I love the job, I can't speak highly [enough] of it,” Roslyn said.

“In the role you learn a variety of skills; you meet some really good people; you develop some really good relationships.

“I think that one of the key reasons why you join is that commitment to the community, so although, yes, you may be up and down and your sleep may be interrupted, for me personally, it's very satisfying to know that I've been out [and] helped somebody.”

“When you're signing up, that's what you're signing up for – that's the commitment that you give and it's the nature of the job, really,” Lauren said.

“I quite thrive on that sort of environment where you're not sure what's coming next and you have to think on your feet.”

To learn more or apply, see this link. For any further questions, the crew at Station 325 are happy to answer calls to chat about what it's like to serve the local community as a firefighter. Phone them on 4224 2035.