Carstairs Fire Department looking for new recruits

The Carstairs Fire Department has put out a call to locals who are interested in joining the fire department to now apply.

According to Josh Van Arnam, the fire prevention officer and captain at the Carstairs Fire Department, this time of the year is when they are looking for recruits.

"We don't necessarily have a number that we're looking for, but we're looking to hire some people that would like to join the Carstairs Fire Department."

According to Can Arnam, one of the big stipulations is that they have to live either within the town or within five minutes.

"We train firefighters right from never even touching the gear, we get them all of the required training that we need them to do."

The fire department will also teach first aid to the soon-to-be firefighters as well. Van Arnam also mentioned you must be at least 18 years old and off your graduated driver's license. He went on to talk about the characteristics they look for in the resident who is applying.

"The willingness to help is a big one, outgoing and  good teamwork."

Carstairs is a paid-on-call fire department so when firefighters get called to emergencies that is when they will get paid.

"We just ask people to carry their pagers and respond when they're able to. If you're able to respond, they come down to the hall, they get their equipment on, and then they go in a truck to the situation."

Training for the fire department is every Wednesday night. Van Arnam did state they ask every firefighter to make at least 70 per cent of training nights each year. 

"We've got a physical examination, which isn't hard, but it gets your blood pumping a little bit just to make sure that people are somewhat in shape."

So far in the year, Carstairs Fire Department has had around 250 emergency calls.

If you are interested in applying, click HERE. You can do so until November 1. 

Sign up to get the latest local news headlines delivered directly to your inbox every afternoon. 

Send your news tips, story ideas, pictures, and videos to news@discoverairdrie.com. You can also message and follow us on Twitter: @AIR1061FM. 

DiscoverAirdrie encourages you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this page and downloading the DiscoverAirdrie app.