A POLICE Community Support Officer from Holsworthy is putting on a fire helmet to assist during emergency calls.

In one of the first pilot schemes of its kind in the South West, the initiative will see Holsworthy PCSO Mark James and other PCSOs become PFCSOs (Police and Fire Community Support Officer).

The scheme joins with the emergency services to combine the roles of PCSOs and retained firefighters.

Currently there are three officers who are trained and operating in this joint role of PFCSO in Holsworthy, Ilfracombe, Okehampton and Hatherleigh —Mark James, Marcus Jarvis and Peter Hyde.

Mark, recently appointed PFCSO for Holsworthy, said: “We began training under the pilot scheme in November.

“The scheme has been a 12-month process of joint work between the Devon Police and Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service and the pilot is the outcome of their initial thoughts of working together.”

The hope is for the new PFCSOs to aid the fire crews in their work, alleviating some of the pressures put on them and ensuring the best possible service is provided to the public.

The pilot has already drawn national interest and other force areas and the Home Office are actively promoting a closer relationship between the police and fire services.

Police Inspector Roger Bartlett, based in Ilfracombe, said: “There are two main aims to this work. The first is to retain a visible uniformed presence in our communities in the face of significant ongoing cuts to our services. By sharing the cost of these officers we hope to protect frontline officers who deliver such an essential engagement and safeguarding role in communities.

“The second aim is to provide a better more joined up service where officers visiting premises or engaging with community groups can not only deliver crime-related advice but also fire safety advice that will protect people from harm.”

Fire service area manager Neil Blackburn 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.”

PCSOs from the pilot area were asked to volunteer to be trained as PFCSOs. It was felt that because of their current role in communities they were best suited to provide the kind of support needed by the retained firefighters.

PFCSO Mark said: “The training was held at the weekends and lasted about five weeks. It had been spread out over several months in order to accommodate the busy schedules of the retained firefighters we are working alongside, as it would be impractical for them to go away for a large block of time in order to train.”

The PCSOs have been trained as retained firefighters and will carry pagers to allow them to respond to fire calls when they are on duty as PCSOs.

PFCSO Mark added: “Due to the hours PCSOs, like myself, work we are thought of as being more reliably available than say police officers.

“The police are more likely to become tied up with work that cannot simply be left, for example if they were attending a crime. PSCOs, however, are there primarily for support and in these new roles we will assist retained firefighters in situations like RTCs and fires with an emphasis on the rescue side of things.”

The PFCSOs will now provide invaluable cover during weekdays, in particular when the fire service struggle to provide the required cover for retained stations.