Firefighters respond to 999 emergency calls to put out fires but that's not all. Other incidents can range from road traffic collisions to chemical spillages, water rescue operations and rail incidents. The focus we have on prevention means that firefighters now spend a large proportion of their time on educating the public so that fires and other incidents can be prevented. There's also a lot of training to maintain operational competence and on the maintenance of equipment.

We work with other emergency services such as the Police, Ambulance and Coastguard Services. We also work with local councils to ensure the protection of vulnerable people. We carry out inspections of commercial and industrial premises and provide safety advice to community groups and families. We go into people's homes and assess against the risk of fire and provide advice to families on how best to protect them. All of these initiatives help prevent fires and other incidents.

We are unlikely to be recruiting Wholetime Firefighters until 2011. However we hope that by going through these sections you will obtain an in-depth understanding of the role of a Firefighter and how we go about recruiting the right people for the role.

We hope that after reviewing this information, you will have decided if a career with Strathclyde Fire and Rescue is for you and if so you will register to receive job alerts so we can inform you when our next recruitment campaign begins. All applications when we run campaigns will be online only.

Please note we will not be accepting applications until this happens.

• Do you want to work in an organisation where daily we save lives?
• Do you want to learn something new every time you go to work?
• Do you want to be part of a team of over 3,500 people?
• Are you interested in a career where you map out your own pathway to success?
• Do you want to make a difference?

Work for us and you'll not only enjoy the rewards that come with being able to do all of these things. . . we will reward you in other ways too. You soon get to know that as a Firefighter, each and every day on the job can be exhilarating, exhausting, challenging and demanding. But it's also equally rewarding.

Whilst we offer a very competitive salary and benefits package, excellent training, development and opportunities to progress your career, many of our Firefighters say that the biggest benefit they get, is the job itself.

Among the fantastic range of benefits that we offer, you can expect:

• A competitive salary
• A final salary pension scheme
• A personalised range of employee benefits available to you and your family
• Excellent training and career progression opportunities
• Generous leave entitlement which increases with service
• Access to gym facilities at your place of work

Some may say that nothing prepares you for your first emergency but that's not true. The training we give is second-to-none and it really does prepare you. So when you experience fire and fear, the training kicks in. Helping you and the team around you to make rational, safe judgements, which will help you save lives and property.

There are four types of Firefighter roles:

Wholetime – which is full time which is our full time firefighters based in one of our 39 stations

Retained Duty System (RDS) - Part time and predominantly based in some of the more rural areas of Strathclyde. To find out more about becoming an RDS Firefighter click here

Volunteer – which is on a call out basis and predominantly based in some of the more remote villages and islands within Strathclyde. To find out more about becoming a Volunteer Firefighter click here

Firefighter (Control) – Our state of the art Operations Support Centre deals with all emergency 999 calls into SFR and the subsequent mobilisation of resources to respond to fires and other incidents. To find out more about becoming a Firefighter (Control) click here

If you want to develop your career and maybe become our Chief Officer one day, we will provide you with the tools. All we ask is that you provide the commitment!

The normal career path for a firefighter is:

• Firefighter
• Crew Commander
• Watch Commander
• Station Commander
• Group Commander
• Area Commander
• Assistant Chief Officer
• Deputy Chief Officer
• Chief Officer

Our Chief Officer began his career with us as a Firefighter. Hear how he achieved this below.

The number of Firefighters we recruit depends on how many we decide we need to meet current and long term needs. When we run recruitment campaigns, we are looking for people to join us possibly as far in advance as in the next 2-year period!

Our Trainee Firefighters attend a 12 week residential training course at the Scottish Fire Service College at Gullane on the east coast of Scotland. During this time, they return to their families only for weekends.

Whilst attending the residential course, they learn basic core competence skills including operation of fire service ladders, fire appliances and pumps including various other pieces of fire and rescue service equipment. They will also be trained in how to deal with road traffic collisions and in order to support this will learn basic first aid skills. It is expected that during their time at College there will be an element of evening work in order to record training activities and consolidation of learning on our tailored IT programme.