Great Yarmouth Fire Station, Friars Lane, Great Yarmouth

Photographs of Red Watch at Great Yarmouth Fire Station in 2007

By Lauren Mccurdy

Profile of Aaron Tills: Fire Fighter at Great Yarmouth Fire Station

Aaron Tills has been a fire fighter on red watch at Great Yarmouth Fire Station for 6 years. He wanted to join the service because it was his childhood dream to do something worthwhile. He enjoys the unpredictability of the job and the fact that it involves physical work.

He works 2 days on and 2 days off alternating between day and night shifts. Being a fireman involves a lot of training to deal with the situations they may come across during the course of their work. A typical day involves a parade at 9.00am followed by checks and tests of all the equipment to make sure that the kit is ready to go at a moments notice. They also carry out drills in the yard to practice using the kit for different scenarios. They are involved in a lot of fire safety work with the community, visiting schools and community groups and carrying out home fire risk assessments.

If there's a callout, the station alarm will sound, the emergency lighting will come on and there will be a voice over giving information about the location and nature of the incident. While this is going on the team will be getting ready and into the truck a quickly as possible planning ahead for the course of action they will take to tackle the incident. The work can be dangerous and involve traumatic situations but Aaron says that their comprehensive training allows them to deal with any situation.

He says that he enjoys his work as a fire fighter: "I'd like to stay on Red Watch ...and say that I've done full time on the same watch at Great Yarmouth. I enjoy the driving, I enjoy wearing breathing apparatus in a fire... I enjoy every aspect of being a fire fighter".