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The Operational Department is primarily the “Response” element of the Isle of Man Fire and Rescue Service  through the mobilisation of fire engines to calls for assistance. It is the role that members of the Island’s community will most commonly identify with.

The Service has seven Operational Fire Stations located at strategic points around the coast of the Island which provide the Service with the ability to respond effectively to the varying types of incident that occur within the 221 square miles (approx) area of which the Island comprises.

The Isle of Man Fire and Rescue Service employ 166 personnel who can respond to emergency calls. Of these personnel 111 are part time (retained) and respond to their station when their pagers are operated. The remainder are full time (wholetime) personnel, 32 of whom work on a shift system, (4 Watches each comprised of 8 personnel) at Douglas Fire Station, which is the only continuously crewed Station within the Service. The remaining full time personnel work various shift systems to meet the Services needs in terms of functional and supervisory roles.

Retained personnel provide 120 hours per week “on call” availability to respond to their Station on the operation of their pagers (alerters) in addition to attending a weekly 3 hour training session. They perform an extremely valuable role in enabling the Service to provide an effective, efficient and community focussed service provision to the Islands’ residents. A Wholetime member of the Service works up to 42 hours per week and will additionally provide 84 hours of “on call” availability per week. As can be seen from these working hours a member of the Isle of Man Fire and Rescue Service must be an extremely devoted and dedicated individual who is willing to be available to respond to emergency calls during times that employees in most other careers would consider to be their leisure time free from work commitments.

The Isle of Man Fire and Rescue Service could not operate affectively as an emergency service without its retained personnel and it is important to recognise their commitment and dedication. However it is essential to acknowledge the vital contribution of their employers to making the Island a safer place, without their readiness to release their employees to respond to their pagers, at a moment’s notice, we would not be able to mobilise Fire Engines to emergency calls, with the speed and efficiency that is needed in life threatening situations.

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