Within 5 minutes.
Rubbish! Not unless you are in the same street.
I don't think you would speak to like that in person so please don't do it on here.
The fact is to provide retained fire cover you have to attend the firestation within five minutes of being alerted if you don't questions will be asked.
There are a few times when it takes longer, ironically i was alerted this afternoon when i had about 60 meters of hose out and 1 small window and a door left to do on the house i at, knowing there was plenty of people on call i finished the house put a ticket through the door and packed up my equipment and was on my way(think this took about 3-4 minutes) normally it would take another 3 to four minutes to get to the station from where i was, but today it took me 14 minutes because it was around 5pm and i have never known the traffic to be so bad as it was. By the time i got there both pumps were gone, it has never taken me so long to get there before and if it became a habit i would get a p45.
The majority of retained firefighters are in small towns and villages, those who are based in larger towns and cities are usually at stations where the first pump out is manned by full time fighters and then the second pump out is manned by the retained im not sure if they are allow more time to attend the station than those in small towns.
I myself live in a town where all of my work is well within a five minute drive of my house and the fire station, there are only two sets of traffic lights (not including pedestrian crossing) in the whole town so getting from one side of the town to the other is usually very easy to do in five minutes. So usually it is very easy to pack up and get to the station with five minutes.
H2ose
I pay my tax in full and on time being a retained firefighter is not a living wage just got my pay slip today from fire service after deductions i recieved less than £500 for the month which isn't even a weeks wage for a full time window cleaner, so i work full time and declare my earnings.