Our Community Watch Manager and Firefighter extraordinaire!
I arrived at the fire station on time, and just as I did, Nick Mason pulled up in his black MG, as if swinging by, I imagined, to collect me for a date!
He offered to show me around the Hensington Road station and after seeing all the neatly arranged protective gear on pegs, ready to jump into (which he described as ‘untidy’), and the shiny new and impressive gym that was hiding behind the fire-engine, he took me up to the first floor. The first impression I had was how neat, tidy, clean and organised it all was! He told me that in the past the kitchen area used to be a bar, and the space which is now filled by a conference table and white board for training and meetings, would have been often been used for a dance or for a pool table. ‘It used to be very much a social place for the families’, he said.
Nick told me that their numbers are waning as there is very little industry left in Woodstock now. Three of their staff come from Blenheim and use pagers, but at present there are only six part time staff, which makes a total of seven with him, the watch manager.
In Oxfordshire, there are two ‘duty systems’ and out of 25 Fire Stations, only 6 are manned all the time, and the rest are ‘on call’ with staff having other jobs and using pagers. It’s called a ‘community fire station’ because its a kind of a hub with a local PCO working in the front office. They are very keen on joint working and sharing information. ‘We invite the police to events and vice versa. We work well together. That’s the way things are going’.
Nick is local in the sense that he grew up in Cowley, but his family moved to Yarnton and then to Woodstock for a while. He started at The Marlborough School at 14, but left a year later, as soon as he could! He now lives in Long Hanborough. ‘I used to enjoy doing talks at Marlborough School…and Mr Hayes once said: you seem to be here more now than you should have been!’
I asked him what made him join up? ‘I wanted to help the community and learn new skills. My football and rugby days were coming to an end and I wanted to replace my sport…but it was quite a vocational thing, as it’s not very well paid.’ He had run his own successful printing business from The Old Tannery site before.
I asked him what qualities make a good fire fighter, and he listed: empathy; community spirit; looking out for people; being a good observer; being practical; fit and a good communicator. When I asked him about bravery, he said modestly: ‘Well, we are quite risk averse these days. We have a mantra which says we will risk our lives, but if there’s nobody inside a building we’re not going to go in. We’ve lost fire fighters over the years…’
He said that on the training they learn about building construction, and the science of how fires develop, a lot about health and safety at work, and how to assess the risks, and it is his job as watch manager to do just that ‘in the moment’.
When he arrives to fight a fire, it is his job to assess what’s in the fire, are there people in there? What are the resources available to them? Where are they going to get water from? What are the outcomes likely to be? Where is the fire in the building? How long has it been burning? He has to consider the safety of the crew and be concerned about the possible existence of chemicals. He needs to think about whether they need additional fire engines or platforms or specialist equipment? He has to work out a plan in his head, but more importantly, he has to be able to communicate it to his crew. He has to know about building construction, electrics, and 8where the gas is isolated. He has to ask is there anything else in there? Do these people keep motorbikes in their front room? Or is the person living there hoarding newspapers? Are there people living in loft spaces? Is it a crack den?
‘Mental health is a massive problem nowadays and it affects how people live. We are very honoured to go into people’s homes. There’s often a lot that we think about after the fire. It’s only after the event that I have to fill in the paperwork and write a report.’
I asked him what the best aspects of his job are? ‘Engaging with the community’, he said. ‘Talking to schools. The other day I spoke to 5,000 sixth formers on road safety over three days at Osney Mead. That’s proactive work! We talk to the W.I and other organisations. We do ‘safe visits’, all free of charge, fitting people’s smoke alarms’.
‘Building regulations now state that all new builds have to be hard wired with smoke alarms, and all this has driven down the number of fire calls, hence we do other things. Oh! Rescuing cats from trees is one of my favourite things. I’ve done two or three in my career! Our jobs are just so varied now.’
I asked him what the worst aspects of his job were? ‘Fatalities, trauma….and fire doors are a real pain! Sometimes they take an hour to break through’. We took a minute to talk about the horrors of Grenfell: ‘the fire was spreading inside the cladding undetected for too long, which shouldn’t happen’.
I asked him if there was anything in his childhood that may have led to his decision to become a fire fighter? ‘I did used to play with a red fire engine,’ he chuckled…and then he added: ‘If I am rescuing someone from a fire, I always think of that personas my mum or nan.’
He was keen to mention that these days they work alongside ‘Trading Standards’. He explained that the other day he went to talk to an elderly woman, and very quickly they realised, by noticing all the mail piled up on her kitchen table, that she was being scammed, so they alerted ‘Trading Standards’ to help her.
‘We’ve had a big push to get more women involved. We have a women’s ‘have a go’ day on a regular basis. We are determined to break the thought process that might think women can’t do it. We have two ladies here who bring many valuable skills and a different dynamic with them. ‘We do a lot of commercial work and animal rescue: cows stuck in water, people stuck in lifts or needing to be rescued from heights such as Bell Towers! We also deal with hazardous incidents like chlorine leaks in swimming pools. We help ambulance staff with entry. The team spirit necessary in our work is really important, and that means we have a great sense of camaraderie’.
‘I think it’s important that people know that this fire engine might not be available all the time. We need drivers presently who have an HGV licence. Kidlington is really the nearest Fire Station at the moment as we presently need to recruit more staff’.
‘Becoming a community fire officer here gives you the opportunity to learn new skills, perhaps gain an HGV licence and an enhanced first-aid qualification and even get to use the newly installed gym!’
I asked him lastly what three tips he could share with our readers. He characteristically offered more…
1. Have working and tested smoke alarms
2. Have an escape plan
3. Shut doors at night
4. Switch things off
5. Make sure you know where your keys are
6. Have a working carbon monoxide detector
7. And test your regimes once a week…..‘once a week!!’ I exclaimed!
Interviewed by Sian Godwin
If you are interested in joining Nick and his colleagues at Woodstock Community Fire Station, please contact him. Tel: 07932 986 728 or EMail: nick.mason@oxfordshire.gov.uk
For more information please search: ‘About the role of an on-call firefighter’ on the Oxfordshire County Council website: www.,oxfordshire.gov.uk