WHEN I was invited to spend the day with Porthmadog’s on-call firefighters I imagined recreating the famous scene from Bridget Jones’s Diary, sliding down a pole with my derriere heading towards a camera.

Despite the embarrassment I would no doubt have felt attempting such a feat, I was rather disappointed to discover the station no longer has a pole! Health and safety innit... But my disappointment was short-lived when the wonderful fire-fighting heroes of the North Wales Fire and Rescue Service took me on a tour of their site.

Impressive engines, incredible equipment, iconic uniforms... I apologise, I’m getting distracted.

Seriously, what impressed me most was the atmosphere created by the hardworking team, most of whom have full-time jobs alongside their roles as on-call firefighters!

Osian Roberts is manager of Porthmadog Leisure Centre. He goes off-call for the fire service two hours before his leisure centre shifts start, and his shifts stay the same so he can accommodate the two roles.

It sounds exhausting to me but Osian’s enthusiasm for his roles is infectious, and he wouldn’t have things any other way.

“When I moved to Porthmadog, I joined the fire service as a way to get to know people,” he said.

“And once you become part of the community you just want to keep helping the people in it.”

He joined the fire service in 2018 and his enjoyment for the job hasn’t waned.

“The best thing about it is the adrenaline you get every time you get a call,” he said.

“Your heart races!”

As well as the adrenaline rush, the 22-year-old tells me he is also grateful to the service for everything it’s taught him.

“I have learnt so many different skills, how to use lots of equipment, and I’ve learned so much about myself,” he said.

“Learning to use the breathing equipment, for example. You get very hot and you can’t see. You really get to test yourself.”

Osian tells me he is “on the path to becoming an incident commander”.

“Becoming an on-call firefighter has led to so many developments for me, and I’m lucky to have gone through those developments fast. There are lots of opportunities for on-call firefighters to develop a career and I would encourage everyone to join.”

Former Cambrian News advertising sales representative Emma Pritchard agrees.

Emma left the paper looking for a more physically demanding role and now combines being the manager of Y Banc restaurant in Porthmadog with working as an on-call firefighter. Impressive Emma is also mother to three young children!

Inspired to join the fire service by a relative, the 30-year-old said: “My father-in-law, Martin Pritchard, used to be watch manager here.

“He tried to entice his children to join the service but they didn’t want to.

“He’s really pleased I went into it and I’ve been here for two-and-a-half years now.”

I spoke to Martin about the service and he recommends it to everyone, not just family.

“Recruitment is an on-going problem but it’s a great job and you see all aspects of life,” he said.

“You get to help people and it’s an honour to work for the service and with such great equipment and training, which is all spot on.”

“I worked for the fire service for 26 years alongside my full-time job at the power station in Trawsfynydd.

“I retired in 2011 and missed it a lot for the first few years, but all my colleagues have retired and there’s a new crew.

“It’s hard work, it’s eye-opening work, but it’s really rewarding and I would encourage everyone to go join.”

Y Banc restaurant releases Emma to attend callouts, something corporate communications officer Rhian Williams is very grateful for.

“That’s massive for us, having employers who will let staff go,” Rhian said.

“And you don’t have to offer a set number of hours, so if someone is reading this thinking they don’t have enough time to give, just get in touch and find out more.”

The job comes highly recommended by Emma, who said the best thing is that “you never know what you are going to be doing from one day to the next”.

“You could be sat at home on the sofa or in work one minute and then you’re off out in a fire engine the next,” she said.

“And as Rhian says, it doesn’t matter how many hours you can offer.

“I’ve got three children aged 13, 10 and 8 but my other half is used to me rushing off to attend calls because his father did it.”

Osian doesn’t have children but believes the service, and fellow colleagues, help each other out when it comes to their busy schedules.

“It’s all about having work-life balance and it can be hard sometimes, but there’s been a lot of improvements in the service lately and things have changed to give us more of that.”

Emma added: “I’ve had no issues with balancing everything, but my family do back me and I couldn’t do it without them.”

Commenting on stand-out shouts they’ve attended, Emma said: “For me the most interesting one was Blaenau Ffestiniog mountain fire about a week after I joined in 2019.

“It made the news, and I was there!

“I can still remember seeing the sky lit up as we approached Blaenau, and all the locals were so kind offering us tea and cake.”

For Osian “it was the floods in Bedd­gelert because of the way people responded to us”.

“Their houses were being flooded but they weren’t panicking, they were trying to look after us and I think at one point I had three cups of tea on the go!”

But they must also see some awful sights.

“You do, but not as often as you’d think,” said Emma.

“You see more positive things, and come away with a sense of achievement.”

If they do see anything upsetting, the service looks after its own.

“We have support available if people need it, and we have debriefs,” Rhian said.

“There’s also great camaraderie and real team work.”

Emma added: “We’re not just colleagues, we’re also friends who go out and do a job a together, and you know you’re not going to get left behind.”

Crew manager Ian Sachs, who also works for Natural Resources Wales said: “You should look into joining us. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re thinking about it, come and see us.

“If you want to help people, and if you want to develop a career, becoming an on-call firefighter is a great stepping stone; it’s very fulfilling and satisfying.”

I thoroughly enjoyed attended Porthmadog’s open day for potential recruits but, sadly, I won’t be signing up myself - no upper body strength!

However, if I was physically fitter and had a bit of free time on my hands, I think becoming an on-call firefighter would be massively rewarding and I applaud everyone who is, was, and will be part of this magnificent service.

And when I returned home from Porthmadog and told my family about my day, my four-year-old daughter asked if girls could be firefighters. I told her girls can be anything they want to be, and all about Emma who left the Cambrian News and joined the service.

Perhaps I should dig out the weights and start working on my upper body strength after all...