In the next week firefighters will decide whether to take strike action, a tough choice between their duty to the community and the need to earn a living.

Chippenham firefighters spoke to LILY CANTER about the stresses of their everyday lives and how they can be thrown into life or death situations at any moment.

FIREFIGHTERS in Chippenham are dedicated to the service and see it as a job for life, but it brings with it enormous stress.

The firefighters must work 72-hour shifts, endure rigorous training and face life threatening situations.

Increased demands now being placed on firefighters have led to calls for a national strike over pay and conditions. Firefighters who are union members are about to take part in a ballot.

Despite the pressures, Dave Jacomb, Sub Officer in charge of Blue Watch, one of the two eight-person teams at Chippenham fire station, says the job is a stable one.

"Being a firefighter has job security. There is no threat of redundancy and it is a secure job for life," he said.

"There are mixed feelings at this station about the strike," said Sub Officer Jacomb. There are 13 union members at Chippenham station.

Chippenham's full-time firefighters work in shifts of three days on, three days off.

They are based at the station from 8.30am to 6pm and are on call from 6pm to 8.30am. At least six officers must be on duty at any time.

"Some nights when you have to jump out of bed in the middle of the night and have had very little sleep, it is very knackering," said Dave Myers who has been in the service for 26 years.

And working unsociable hours can take its toll on family life.

"It's swings and roundabouts," said Mr Myers.

"When I get home my children are already in bed so I don't get to see them when I am working. But on my three days off I see them and I spend my spare time with them," he said.

But the job is not without its benefits.

"We are helping our community and that is why we do it," said Sub Officer Jacomb.

With over 850 shouts a year, the firefighters never know what they will be facing next. They do not know how many call-outs a day they will have. A day can go by with no call-outs and then there can be eight or nine a day for the next two days.

At Chippenham station the average number of shouts a week is around 15 to 25.

"It can be anything from a house fire, chemical spillage, a cat stuck in a tree or a horrific road traffic accident," said Sub Officer Jacomb, who has been in the brigade for eight years.

"But when you get called to a road accident it does cross your mind what if it is someone you know?" he said.

"It is particularly hard if it is someone you know, but you have to get on with it. You deal with the situation at the time, but it never leaves you," he said.

"Everyone has something in their history which they will always remember and it is often the first accident they went to," he said.

The firefighters within Blue and Red watch support each other. "We can all talk to each other after we have dealt with something traumatic and it is like a support system," said Sub Officer Jacomb.

"But sometimes we rescue someone from a car and they go to hospital and we have no contact with them. Then a few days later we see in the paper that they have died. That can be hard," said Mr Myers.

Safety checks are carried out daily, including checking the hydrants on the fire engines and checking all equipment and tools are in working order.

The firefighters carry out physical training everyday and depending on the number of shouts received they can spend two hours fitness training and several hours practising vehicle extraction on scrapyard cars and reject cars from Honda.

For those who have been in the service for many years one of the hardest parts of the job is adapting to all the changes.

"It used to be just hacksaws and axes but now it is all this technical equipment," said Mr Myers.

"And it is no longer about just putting out fires, it is about preventing them in the first place," said Sub Officer Jacomb.

"We go out into the community and educate people. For example we attended a cooker fire the other day and we went back to that neighbourhood and knocked on doors offering advice to people," he said.

Fire prevention is becoming a huge part of the job. "Previously we only met the public when we attended a fire but now it is part of our routine job. We are expected to take on the role of a teacher and go into schools to educate children at their level," said Sub Officer Jacomb.

"We now get called out to incidents we would never have had to attend. We are always having new training and at Chippenham we are currently forming a water rescue unit and a rope rescue unit with advanced abseiling skills."

More women are going into the service and there is one female fire fighter at Chippenham.

"She is treated as one of the team and she has to go through all the same tests and training that we do," said Sub Officer Jacomb.

How the pay compares

Firefighters nationally claim their salaries fall far short of the average national wage. They want a 40 per cent rise in pay to bring them in line with other front line staff in the emergency services.

The following figures are annual salaries for experienced emergency workers:

Firefighter: £21,531

Police constable: £20,304 to £25,035 depending on experience

Ambulance technician: £19,104, qualified paramedic: £19,802

This week the 55,000 members of the Fire Brigades Union will receive their ballot papers for voting on strike action. Results should be revealed by the end of October.