CEO, David Dodds was invited to meet with some of the firefighting team who helped with the recent fires (pictured Arron Rose, Luke Pearson and Martyn Hazelwood) but also to receive a recognition award for our long-standing employee, Dominic Brewer.
Dom has been with Sackers for nearly 15 years and has been an On Call firefighter for about 3.5 years responding from our Needham Market Site. Dom spends his working hours at Sackers on call for the fire service and has attended over 100 emergency call-outs in that time.
Dom says “I’ve been a retained firefighter for nearly four years now. It’s one of the most satisfying jobs, being able to help others in a time of need. I’m very grateful that I work for a business who allow me to drop and run whenever there is a fire emergency. The skills I have learned help me at work too and some of the call outs range from rescuing cars from floods, road traffic collisions to the raging summer heatwave fires we saw last year. It really is varied and I would encourage anyone who might be interested, business or individuals, to find out more”.
Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service, wanted to recognise the benefit of Sackers releasing Dom from his work to attend emergencies “it is not underestimated across our Service, the impact of releasing employees to undertake these essential duties. Without employees such as yourself agreeing to support the individual, the organisation and the community, Suffolk would be a more challenging place to live and work” Darren Cooper, Deputy District Commander (South).
Dom is now further stepping up his training to be an officer in charge which allows him to have more responsibility in the event of a call out.
David Dodds says “It is good for us to give back to the fire service because we don’t know where we, personally, would be without them. Dom is a key member of staff, and he’s been a retained firefighter for nearly four years. Having a trained firefighter on-site during the day is a win-win for all businesses, but also to know that he is helping others, whether they are individuals or businesses, when they need it the most, is something we really understand the value of. We all know that when you need the help of an emergency service, you will do anything for that help at that time. We have experienced it ourselves, twice, in the last month. We are so grateful for what they do and their skills and effort needs some serious kudos. It’s a small price to pay for such an amazing service.”
Martyn Hazelwood, Recruitment Manager for Suffolk Fire & Rescue Service said we are currently recruiting On Call Firefighters at 34 of our 35 Fire stations. Suffolk have 6 stations with Wholetime and On Call firefighters and the other 29 stations are purely crewed by On Call Firefighters. We desperately need more On Call and it’s a misconception that you can’t be a firefighter if you already have a job. Look at Dom and Sackers. He is a full-time employee, yet is on call when he is working for the business. If you are interested, on the 27th February at 19:00 hrs we are holding a Recruitment Evening at the Needham market fire station. Please do pop along if you want to find out more or get involved” Sackers took this opportunity to also thank the fire service for their help in the last month tending to the two fires they have had during the night by taking some Thank You beers produced for the business by @Humberdoucybrewing for those who might need to unwind at the end of the day, or some biscuits for those who don’t want the alcoholic option.
