Brother and sister duo Euan and Isla Sullivan have joined fire stations as new on-call firefighters with Lincolmshire fore and Rescue.
Euan always wanted to become a firefighter and made it a reality this year – providing cover at both Lincoln North and Waddington fire stations. Isla works in administration from home during the day and provides overnight cover at Waddington fire station.
She said: “The role is exciting, challenging and fun, and a great way to give back to the community.”
Now that Euan and Isla have settled into their roles, they say their favourite aspect of the job is the people – both their colleagues and the community members they meet.
Euan said: “It’s great to build close bonds with people at my station that I wouldn’t have met otherwise.”
The pair recommend the job to others, saying that it’s really rewarding and completely different from their usual office jobs.
Training to become an on-call firefighter consists of 32 days of training where you learn the skills required to be an operational firefighter. Euan and Isla both really enjoyed their training, finding it a supportive and positive experience.
The pair believe the ‘firefighter’ seeds were sown by older brother Ross, who was the first member of the family to become a firefighter. While he no longer works within the service, his involvement was enough to inspire his siblings.
“The fact that he was an on-call firefighter has obviously left its mark with both of us,” said Isla. The training is really good and prepares you so you can do the job in a professional way.
“But as everyone knows, there are aspects to the job that the training doesn’t really prepare you for – the really difficult incidents. But, for those, your colleagues are around you and they have been there and done that, so they know exactly how you’re feeling and they help enormously.”
With both Euan and Isla both still living at the family home, they often attend ‘shouts’ – jargon for call outs – together and it can be a race to get to the car first.
“If we receive the call in the middle of the night, it can often be a race in the dark from different parts of the house,” joked Euan. “But it is usually me who is out of the door first.”
