Work pattern
Wholetime crews work the duty system stated in their contract, which may combine days, nights and other patterns. On-call firefighters provide agreed cover and must respond to their station within the required time when alerted.
On-call availability must work with employment, family and sleep. It should not be viewed as casual work that can always be declined without consequence.
Pay pattern
Wholetime staff receive annual basic pay with contractual additions. On-call staff receive a retainer for availability plus hourly activity and call-out-related payments. Monthly on-call income can vary with incidents and training.
Application choice
Apply to the route that exists locally and that you can sustain. Ask an on-call station about typical availability, training and incident activity; ask a wholetime campaign about location restrictions and duty-system expectations.
Frequently asked questions
Can on-call firefighters become wholetime?
They can apply to wholetime vacancies, but there is not an automatic national transfer.
Are on-call firefighters fully trained?
They train for the operational functions their service requires, with a programme structured around the on-call role.