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Migrants help to fill fire crew jobs

MIGRANT workers are being recruited as retained firefighters in a bid to tackle a staff shortage.

People from Poland and South Africa have signed up to become firemen in Spalding and Holbeach, with two having already completed their training.

And more foreign nationals are being sought as Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue attempts to fill as many as 40 retained firefighter vacancies across the county.

Chief fire officer Mike Thomas said: "This is great news for the fire service on two fronts.

"Firstly, we are always in need of people to join the retained part of the service and secondly we welcome recruits who reflect the changing diversity in Lincolnshire's population."

The two latest recruits are South African Mandlinkosi Makoba (23), who is known as Trevor, and 20-year-old Michael Stachowicz, who is Polish.

Trevor lives in Spalding and is an office administrator and Michael, who lives in Holbeach, is a lab technician at a canning factory.

South African Philoman Moroke (29) has already completed his training and is a firefighter in development based in Spalding. He works for Premier Foods, Long Sutton.

Each of the migrant workers receives exactly the same level of training as an English retained firefighter would get.
Potential language problems are overcome with the use of special dictionaries, course notes and personal mentors.

And as well as being on call to tackle fires and help at accidents, the retained firefighters are also available to spread the fire safety message among migrant worker communities.

Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue spokesman Jane Crofts said: "We have got a particular population of workers coming into the area and we want to reflect the neighbourhoods and the people that are being served.

"By recruiting them we are getting people who have an understanding of certain languages and cultures.

"Retained firefighters do go out and talk to people about fire safety and the same applies to the foreign workers we recruit."

Retained firefighters make up 75 per cent of Lincoln-shire's Fire and Rescue Service and are based at stations across south Lincolnshire, including Spalding, Holbeach and Long Sutton.

Recruits get full training and are paid as much as £1,000 per month, depending on the amount of work they do.

For more information about becoming a retained firefighter, contact the recruitment line on 0800 3580204.
14 August 2006

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