AS part of National On-call Firefighter Awareness Week, a session to ‘have a go’ at being a firefighter will be held on March 7.

Crews from Mere, Tisbury and Gillingham will be at Mere Fire Station from 11am until 2pm, giving visitors the opportunity to cut up a car, try on breathing apparatus, climb a ladder and do the national firefighter selection tests for carrying equipment.

As well as being available to chat about being an on-call firefighter, the crews will also be offering fire safety advice and accepting requests for Safe and Well visits.

On-call support officer Justin French, who is organising the event, said it is “fantastically rewarding” to be a part of the fire and rescue service, adding that Mere fire station is looking in particular for on-call firefighters to cover during the day.

He said: “The easiest way to see if being a firefighter is for you is to come along, have a chat with the crew and try your hand at different things.

“On-call firefighters receive the same training and development as whole-time colleagues, and we can be called to all manner of emergencies, including fires, road traffic collisions, animal rescues and flooding."