6 men from across the Island were handed their pagers and officially welcomed into the Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service at the second passing out ceremony of the year this afternoon (Friday).
The new recruits have spent the past 3 weeks at Ryde Fire Station going through a rigorous training course known as ‘safe to ride’, enabling them to respond at a moments notice to an emergency anywhere on the Isle of Wight.
Over the coming weeks, months and years the individuals will build on their core skills with the support of their new crewmates at a number of different retained fire stations including East Cowes, Sandown, Newport, Ventnor and Yarmouth.
Deputy Chief Fire Officer for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Steve Apter, presented each new firefighter with a certificate and pager in front of gathered friends and family. The ceremony was led by the service’s head of training and development, Tim Spencer-Peet.
As the presentation concluded, the station’s bells went down to simulate a real-life shout. The recruits donned their firefighting gear and jumped on the awaiting appliances. To demonstrate what they had learnt, the new recruits ‘responded’ into the yard area with sirens blaring to show the supporting families different core activities such as rescuing a person from a building, establishing a water supply and of course fighting a fire.
DCFO Apter was joined by Councillor Tig Outlaw (Cabinet member for Public Protection) and Councillor Charles Chapman in inspecting the parade of new recruits and their trainers.
The new recruits of July 2019 are:
• Rupert Webb – East Cowes
• Dave Smith – Newport
• Oscar Fitzgerald – Sandown
• Paul Berry – Ventnor
• Thomas Buckett – Yarmouth
• Mark Weatherley – Sandown
Paul Berry was awarded the ‘top recruit’ award.
The 6 latest retained firefighters join the 7 who entered the service back in March. Another cohort is expected to begin training in February 2021.
Well done to you all… keep safe and thank you to everyone in the fire service for being there to keep us all safe…