Brightlingsea has a new on-call firefighter who will be based at the Lower Park Road station.

Jody Wiles is one of six new on-call firefighters who’ve joined Essex County Fire and Rescue Service after completing their basic training course.

A mechanic who works in the town as a mechanic, Jody says he joined because he “wanted something more fulfilling and a way to give back”.

More than three quarters of fire stations in Essex are staffed by on-call firefighters. They all live or work within five minutes of the fire station and are paged when there is an incident.

As well as responding to incidents, on-call firefighters also carry out home fire safety visits, attend community events and visit community hubs such as schools and care homes to give safety advice.

The service is looking to recruit more on-call firefighters, who are paid to protect their communities. For more information, see https://www.essex-fire.gov.uk/recruitment