OV9

I know we've discussed mid-later life career changes on here, but I'm pretty much locked0in to what I do because it pays the bills and my car addiction etc. Whilst we moved up (proper) north to be closer to our respective parents, we are also keen to give something back to the community which is an aging one and while its not really remote as such, there are limited public services that we all need to support or we'll lose them.

So with that in mind at the start of the year I applied to become an on-call firefighter because what else would someone who's just turned 50 and has dodgy knees and a bad back from years of running and falling over do? There's very few full time fire crews north of Inverness, so the majority of cover is done by on-call people and they provide a vital service to a large geographic area.

The process has taken a while, but I passed the fitness and selection tests a few months back and have spent the last two weeks doing my initial training. I'm now armed with a pager and am on call as of last night. The training has been really interesting and I'm booked on various courses over the next while which all increase what I can do (breathing apparatus being the main one), but am looking forward to the next phases of road traffic collision and trauma care. At the moment I can't get my hands on the big tools and start cutting cars although I am now trained to break lots of glass and strip the insides to make sure we're not cutting through airbag charges etc.

Which is all to say, if you fancy doing something a bit different and can spare some time, it might be something you could do to help your community and learn some cool skills and valuable life skills too.

All still a bit surreal though...

Respect Mike

Nice one Mike.. should help motivate you to keep fit as an added bonus, (which we all need).

Blue lights for the cars?

That's absolutely awesome Mike, love it! What would your role in the crew be if you got a call tonight?

This also serves as a useful placeholder thread, because I will absoultely go through a major mid-ish life pivot in the next 2-3 years. The precise direction is undecided, but will either be helping/supporting people, something rural, or an isolated house on an Italian hillside. It all rests on what happens and what I achieve in the next year or two.

Congratulations, I'm sure Mrs Mike will love the uniform

Thats cool. If we lived in a warmer climate I’d have been a wildland firefighter in the summer.

Great stuff

In a previous life I had an HGV licence and always thought driving fire engines on emergency call outs would be a great experience.

It's maybe more fitting in to the community you've moved to than mlc, no less A Good Thing for that though
I hope it doesn't get too real too soon.

IanF wrote: Mon Sep 01, 2025 12:15 pm Blue lights for the cars?

I suggested a blue light for the Dakar when I saw Mike in May and he told me of his plans. Fabulous thing to do, and I'm so pleased you're already doing it, Mike.

In terms of being 'not really remote as such' I would say it's a fair way from anywhere I'd imagine the area you cover is pretty large and quite a lot of it barely accessible by vehicle. Have there been any wildfires locally this summer?

There have been wildfires in Scotland in the last couple of months including a massive one down by Aviemore way but we've been lucky. Although it reminded me about the coolest vehicle related spot which is one of the wildfire units on a Polaris, its amazing what they've got packed onto it.

Gavster wrote: Mon Sep 01, 2025 12:22 pm That's absolutely awesome Mike, love it! What would your role in the crew be if you got a call tonight?

So, until you have your breathing apparatus course done, you don't count to the numbers as you can't go into a building fire without it. Our appliance needs 4 crew BA certified to turn out, but there's six seats so I wouldn't be booted off.

BA course looks fascinating though, two weeks of fire behaviour and practical stuff in rooms with lots of burning pallets and OSB from what I can see.

Last couple of weeks, we've covered how to use the pump on the engine, use their pumps to get water from open water sources, the hoses to join it all together, using a hydrant, how to put up the big and even bigger ladders, how to actually use the hoses and branches (nozzle things), how to get on and off the ladders at height with and without hoses, get kit up there safely and stage one of RTC.

So practically, any of the above. It's very weird that in two weeks I've learned how to rock up in an engine and get water or foam onto something quickly. Next month is next stage of RTC and the month after is trauma so even those two will mean I can do more should we get called to one.

It is a large area to cover up here and you could be diverted to other areas which, just like the police and ambulance here, means it can be a long time until help arrives. There's a lot of specialist appliances in Inverness, but even with blue lights, that's going to be 90 minutes away from here.

Apparently we can't get our own blue lights which is most disappointing. Mrs Mike does however approve of the uniform.

It's definitely more motivation to get fitter. Cardio wise I was fine, but some days my forearms were ready to fall off with all the ladder drills - the big ladder is fvcking heavy. And the fire gear is very hot to wear, even when not doing much in a Scottish summer.

And its a weird feeling waiting for the pager to go off - not wishing anybody to have to find themselves in the situation where they need to call us out, but also keen to get going and start getting some experience.

I'm sure after a few years of being on call you will find yourself wishing for a quiet night rather than a busy one!

I don't think this qualifies as a midlife crisis - but there is definitely something about becoming older and feeling more a part of your community so you want to give things back / help out. A midlife crisis is buying some kind of ridiculous car and... oh...

Well done Mike, a very worthwhile endeavor.

Explosive Newt wrote: Mon Sep 01, 2025 2:14 pm I'm sure after a few years of being on call you will find yourself wishing for a quiet night rather than a busy one!

I don't think this qualifies as a midlife crisis - but there is definitely something about becoming older and feeling more a part of your community so you want to give things back / help out. A midlife crisis is buying some kind of ridiculous car and... oh...

I showed some friends a picture of the Alpine A290 and they all laughed at me shouting midlife .

I also don't think this qualifies as a midlife crisis Mike, this actually helps people.

What @Holley says. You're DiW. Come back when you've decided to buy a RAM 3500 with a 7 litre Cummins diesel, and a Stetson to wear.

Much respect

My friend Shaun does it and it looks to be incredibly rewarding.

You will have a lot of new experiences.

Dave!

Admirable

Ahem..

https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/press-k ... ories.html

With very white, almost blue lights.. or cibie old skoool ones. It gets very dark up there after all!

That is very and admirable!

So are you just called when the A-team are otherwise busy and/or to further assist?

My BIL dad was a firefighter, and his neighbour was a very (very) senior fire chief....as much as it's an incredibly rewarding job (and I don't want to be negative about it, I'm just genuinely interested) I'm aware they saw some horrendous things that many people would struggle with. Do they prep you for things like that as well?

I do think its one of those careers I would have gone into if I knew then what I know now, but hopefully its rewarding and just a chance to give something back to the community.

@Matty - No, we are the A team There's no full time firefighters up this way now, so we are it and could be called anywhere up this way depending on what's going on and who's available. It's kind of scary to see just how little coverage there is at times.

No, so far there's not been any specific training or awareness on what you might see or have to deal with. RTCs are more common that fire incidents these days so I'm under no illusion about what we could have to turn out to but I'm as ready as I can be for it I guess and maybe being that bit older will help. Only time will tell I guess.