Centristic has recently been honoured to receive the Chief Fire Officer’s Recognition of Services to the Community, by Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service (DSFRS).

The award was given to acknowledge our ongoing contribution to the community, by allowing employees to be released from work to undertake on-call firefighting duties throughout the working day.  This support helps ensure that emergencies in our local area can receive a quick response.

The closest station to our Heathfield factory is Bovey Tracey, where Steve Harvey (pictured, right) has been a retained firefighter since November 2017.  Steve has worked for Centristic for over fifteen years, from joining us as a Welder/Fabricator, then site supervisor, to supervising welding and fabrication and assisting in workshop management.  Steve carries a pager at work so that he can be contacted quickly whenever he is required to drop everything and respond to an incident.

There are approximately 14,000 retained firefighters, like Steve, in England and Wales.  They provide cover for around 90% of the UK’s area, typically in small towns and harder-to-reach rural areas.  Sometimes they also provide backup to full-time stations, to run additional appliances when needed. 

Retained firefighters undertake ongoing training so they are thoroughly prepared to use all required equipment and cope with the physical demands of the role.  A key stipulation is also that the firefighter must live or work no more than five minutes from the fire station – which makes Centristic ideally placed to support Bovey Tracey.

Pictured with Steve are James Hepworth, Centristic’s Operations Director (left), receiving the award from Watch Manager Chris Boston, the On-Call Station Commander for Bovey Tracey.

We are, of course, extremely honoured to receive this award, and in doing so pay tribute to the true heroes of the emergency services, who dedicate their time and energy to help keep our communities safe.

To find out more about the role of a retained firefighter, and how you or your business could get involved, please visit:  https://www.dsfire.gov.uk/careers/on-call-firefighters and https://www.dsfire.gov.uk/careers/how-on-call-firefighters-benefit-businesses