Name: Paul Cornelius
Station: Chew Magna
Age: 44
Year joined AF&RS: 1995
Other job: Police Community Support Officer
Position at AF&RS: Watch Manager - Retained
Duty System
Hobbies: Five-a-side football and gardening
Favourite food: Sirlion steak or roast
chicken
Favourite drink: Becks lager or a cup of tea
Favourite place: Cornwall
Why did you want to become a firefighter?
It was always a boyhood dream for me and I got talking to some of
the team at the local fire station, gaining knowledge about life as
a Retained Firefighter.
It was great to know I could do the role as well as my main job,
working flexibly between the two.
Did you have any fears about becoming a
firefighter?
I wondered how I would react when going to incidents involving
people in distress like house fires and road traffic collisions.
However, there is a great deal of support, not only from my
colleagues, but also from the service as a whole, in this
area.
Did you do much physical training before joining
AF&RS?
I didn’t do a lot of physical training in the run up to my
recruitment as I was quite active already, playing football and
squash.
How hard did you find training school?
It was a real challenge, but I think the hardest part for me was
making sure I was smart and ready for parade every morning, so that
senior officers couldn’t find fault with my uniform.
How was your first day on shift?
It was
several days before I got my first shout, so I was really keen to
get started. The first job I attended was a road traffic collision
involving a fuel spill, which we had to clear up. There was no one
trapped so it was quite a nice job to ease me into the
role.