BUDDING firefighters flocked to a recruitment day, staggering fire chiefs who last time only managed to attract five potential officers.

The day was hailed a huge success by new Station Commander at Burnley Kevin Murray, who said nearly 60 people came along to the station on Belvedere Road to find out more about the service.

He said: "The day was held to try to balance the staff we have at the fire station to the mix of the community we work in and recruit more people from ethnic backgrounds and more female firefighters.

"At Burnley the fire station is mostly manned by male white firefighters but the day attracted a lot of people from ethnic minorities and women and a few men, whom we didn't turn away."

Burnley is manned by full-time officers, but Nelson, Colne, Padiham, Earby and Barnoldswick all have retained crews.

Although Burnley is currently at full-strength, Mr Murray said there were always occasions when firefighters retired, had to take early retirement on health grounds and transferred to another area often for promotion and so opportunities would be available locally.

Besides the two fire appliances, at Burnley officers also have access to the specialist equipment such as the environmental unit, breathing equipment pod and aerial platform ladder.

The people who attended were given an introduction to a day in the life of a firefighter, which was aimed at dispelling myths that the job is dangerous.

They were also shown round the station and appliances, got the chance to try on firefighters outfits and roll a hose out and collect it back in.

Mr Murray said: "A lot of people wrongly believe there is a height restriction to being a firefighter and that is not true.

"What we do is test that they are physically capable of taking a ladder of an appliance, but we don't discriminate and if people don't initially pass grip tests, we can help them to build up their strength."

Female firefighters and those from ethnic minorities already in the brigade were present to discuss the job with the potential recruits.