When self-confessed “adrenaline junkie” Nat Eddleston joined the fire service, it seemed like the perfect match, she told Wales Live.
The 38-year-old from Conwy said it felt like she was making a real difference in her community and saving lives in the process.
However, what the people Nat was saving may not have realised is that she, like thousands of others across the UK, was a paid volunteer juggling those commitments with a full-time job and home life.
Many fire stations are staffed entirely by on-call firefighters like Nat, who are paid £2,700 to £3,600 per year plus an hourly rate for any callouts.
They can be anything – builders, care workers, stay-at-home parents – but they must live and work within just a few miles of their station and drop everything if they get the call.
It is a lifestyle that many inside the service admit is becoming harder to pair with the demands of modern life, shift work and childcare.
“At first you sign up to it because you’re keen,” said Nat.
“But then the realisation kicks in that this is 120 hours per week. That’s a lot of hours to give.
“At first it seemed doable. I was at college studying so in the day it was fine, but then I’d find every night and every weekend I was on call and it just became too much really.”
