Four people who live or work within the required five-minute response time to Ongar Fire Station signed up to be on-call firefighters.

The rapid surge of new recruits comes a house fire on Turret Court, Ongar, just a two-minute drive from the emergency service.

Tragically, a family of five lost their home in the blaze after the fire started in the kitchen on Saturday, September 14.

Firefighters based on Ongar High Street was unable to attend due to not enough on-call firefighters available that day.

Emergency services from Loughton, Harlow, Old Harlow, Brentwood and Chelmsford alternatively attended to the blaze at 7:10pm and was extinguished by 11pm.

Following the incident, Essex County Fire and Rescue Service has spent time in the community talking to residents about fire safety and recruitment.

Visiting homes in the town, firefighters and members of the Community Safety Team took time to ensure that residents felt informed about fire safety and were protected by working smoke alarms.

Daniel Hockly, crew manager at Ongar Fire Station, said: “Our visits resulted in seven new smoke alarms being fitted to properties that had no working smoke alarms.

“We also spent time speaking to our residents about fire cover in our town and gave them information about supporting on-call firefighter recruitment.

“In fact, in just three days seven people came forward to apply to be on-call firefighters, four of which are in the required response distance.

“I encourage anyone who is interested and meets the criteria to apply, not only do we want to fill our vacancies, but we also want to be in the position where we have a waiting list for when our current firefighter’s circumstances change.”

On-call firefighters must live or work within five minutes of their Fire Station and be over 18 and physically fit, though support is offered to help recruits meet fitness requirements.

For more details call 01376 576698, email oncall.recruitment@essex-fire.gov.uk or visit join.essex-fire.gov.uk/on-call/ongar

To book a free home visit, where we will fit smoke alarms and talk to you about home fire safety, visit essex-fire.gov.uk/book or call 0300 303 0088.