Hi all, Im thinking of training to be a retained fire officer my question is when i do a drill night , this is paid work do i have to have 9 hours off before i start my duty on the lorries?
Tbh you’ll struggle to get your company to allow you to do both,as the retained firefighter position is a paid one they see it as another job.
I know one of our lads had issues and ended up packing the the firefighting as he was being stood down without pay if he git called out the night before.
You’ve also got to ask the question what if I get called out during the night? That’s also classed as paid work?
5RRF:
Hi all, Im thinking of training to be a retained fire officer my question is when i do a drill night , this is paid work do i have to have 9 hours off before i start my duty on the lorries?
go self employed with either one of them! 
DONT tell anyone about nine hours off, it ain’t nobodies business. 
that is all 
One of the guys at my agency is a retained firefighter. He has to take the time off before getting in a truck again.
Cheers guys, i wont book on with retained on a working week thats not a problem, but on a drill night in my working week might be a problem, thanks for replies .
Forgot to mention my dhift is 4 on 4 off, and as a trainee i would need to attend drill nights
Hi, a retained firefighter is exempt from the working time directive. So should not count towards your working week hours. As others have stated it will effect your rest period if you are called out or after your dill night as you need an uninterrupted break between driving. I would highly recommend doing retained though.
Thanks again fir replies.The rest period is going to cayse problems as i want to do it legal
mattwhit:
Hi, a retained firefighter is exempt from the working time directive. So should not count towards your working week hours. As others have stated it will effect your rest period if you are called out or after your dill night as you need an uninterrupted break between driving. I would highly recommend doing retained though.
Is that for all work done? I could see the fire & rescue stuff being exempt while working on those duties but for all work seems unlikely.
My wifes uncle was a retained FF but before the WTD so could not help plus, at nearly 80. he’s been a long time retired. When he was active he had to be able to respond within a very short time, less than 7 minutes to the station if memory serves.
I believe if I’m correct that the working time directive for all retained firefighters is exempt (for retained firefighting duties only), this can easily be found on the internet under retained FFs working time directive. (if not all services offer retained FFs the ability to opt out of the WTD). It’s how fire services are able to have so many people on call. Most retained stations are now on call within a 1 mile radius or 5 minute turn in time.
Think for your rest period will only cause problems if you are called out during the night. Which is something you would need to inform your lorry employer as you may have your 9 hours broken up. However with it been except you may find it beneficial to speak to the FRS in question or maybe ask a few other stations if they have drivers and how they run things.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but as I understand it retained firefighters have to live and/or work within five minutes legal drive of their base. Whilst I’m assuming that the OP doesn’t do nights out, we all know how unpredictable driving can be regarding start and finish times, so how would this square up with your day job?