Meet the university student working as an on-call firefighter 'to gain real-life experience'

A university student has shared how he is working as an on-call firefighter 'to gain real-life experience' alongside his studies.

We are currently recruiting new on-call firefighters across Staffordshire, and we've spoken to Jacob Element, who juggles lectures and on-call shifts at Penkridge Fire and Police Station.

Jacob first joined the service just over a year ago and he is currently studying Fire and Rescue at Wolverhampton University.

Jacob said: "My eventual goal is to become a wholetime firefighter so I thought on-call would be a good way to gain experience.

"I saw that Penkridge were recruiting and thought I'd go for it. I haven't looked back since and I absolutely love it.

"Even though I'm at university full-time, I can commit a lot more hours than if I was working which I'm thankful for, and as a student the extra money always helps!

"I'm usually on-call in the evenings and early mornings and if I don't have a lecture one day, I'll do an extra shift.

"The shifts really help my studies too because I feel like there's only so much you can learn through theory. If you can get hands-on and actually have a go yourself, it helps the knowledge stick."

Speaking about his experience of-call so far, Jacob says the best thing about the role is the people he works with.

Jacob said: "The people are absolutely amazing, you get a real sense of friendship and family from the people you work with, especially at Penkridge.

"Even the people you meet outside of the service, in the local community, are absolutely brilliant.

"Everyone's really friendly, caring and have been supportive and interested in my studies which really helps.

"Being in your own community too is amazing, the local knowledge is helpful on incidents and you get to know lots of different people in the area."

Anyone over the age of 18, who lives or works close to an on-call station can apply to become an on-call firefighter, and all applicants will go through the same recruitment and training process.

Penkridge Fire and Police station is one location currently accepting applications for new on-call firefighters to join the crew. Speaking about this, Jacob said: "I would encourage anyone considering on-call to just give it a go, you've got nothing to lose by just trying.

"People can just pop down to the station for a chat with us and find out more to see if it might be for them."

To find out more about the role and to apply, visit On-call firefighter recruitment.