Name: Jan Morris
Station: Yate
Age: 41
Height: 5ft 8''
Weight: 13 Stone (ish!)
Year joined AF&RS: 1998
Previous
job: Personal assistant
Position
at AF&RS: Watch Manager
Hobbies: Scuba diving, reading, cycling and
weights
Favourite
food: Curry
Favourite
drink: Vodka and tonic
Favourite
place: The countryside or the beach
Hero: Don’t have one
Claim to
fame: Don’t have one of those either!
Why did
you want to become a firefighter? To be able to have a job
where I do something physical and different every day.
Did you
have any fears about becoming a
firefighter? No, not before I joined.
Did you do
much physical training before joining AF&RS? Yes,
lots. Mainly weights and aerobic exercise.
How hard
did you find training school? It was fairly hard
physically, hard mentally and hard being the only lady.
How was
your first day on shift? It was scary but the watch were
really nice.
How do you
find working in a mainly male dominated
workforce? I get on well with the men. I have a
support network of female friends, which I have needed at times as
men and women are different.
What is
your most memorable moment at work? Rescuing a dog that
had gone over a cliff. His owner was so pleased to see him!
What has
been you most embarrassing moment at work? Dropping the
13.5m ladder three times during someone’s ladder assessment at
training school, oops!
If a
female said to you they wanted to join AF&RS what would your
response be?
It is a great
job! Do not expect to have nice nails though! There are still some
old fashioned attitudes, but most people are lovely. You need to be
fit and strong, so fitness must be a part of your life – both now
and in the future. Expect to be working mainly with men (if you’re
into really girly things this may not be the job for you) You need
to be practically minded for sure.
The maternity
benefits are really good and we are working on improving them even
more. The prospects for career progression are numerous and open to
everyone. The job is very community based and a very small
percentage of our time is spent fighting fires or attending other
types of jobs such as road traffic accidents. We do regular
training to ensure we are up to date with equipment and procedures.
To sum it up I can’t imagine doing anything else, but getting where
I am has not always been an easy road. So, are you up for the
challenge?