POLICE Community Support Officers are putting on fire helmets in Okehampton and Hatherleigh to attend emergency calls in one of the first pilot schemes of its kind in the South West.

This pioneering initiative joining up the emergency services will combine the roles of PCSOs and retained firefighters. The scheme will see PCSOs trained up as retained firefighters so that they can carry pagers and respond to fire calls when they are on duty as PCSOs.

Three officers, Peter Hyde, Mark James and Marcus Jarvis, have been trained and are operating in the joint role in Okehampton, Hatherleigh, Ilfracombe and Holsworthy.  A further three are about to embark on their training before covering Bideford, Torrington and Ilfracombe. 

Peter Hyde, police and fire community support officer, said: ’When I initially applied to become a PCSO it was to help the community. So when the opportunity came up to join the pilot with the fire service and expand the work I can do within the community I jumped at the opportunity. Working with the fire service is something I had previously looked at, but was unable to do due to the demands of the police shift pattern. I am looking forward to this new challenge.’

The PFCSOs will provide invaluable cover during weekdays in particular when the fire service struggle to provide the required cover for retained stations.  Other towns and villages in North Devon could also benefit from the scheme in the future.

Area Manager Neil Blackburn, of Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, said: ’As well as providing a better service and reducing costs, this will also help us to provide fire response cover in communities where we have struggled to recruit sufficient retained officers who can provide cover during office hours because of their own work commitments, so it really does provide both services and the community with significant benefits. 

’We feel that the role of a PCSO fits really well with that of locally based fire officers and have had a great deal of interest from PCSOs locally which is really encouraging.’

The pilot has already drawn national interest from other force areas and the Home Office who are actively promoting closer working between the police and fire services nationally. The team have also visited Hayle where a similar project is being developed in order to share learning from each other.