A BUSINESS owner has become one of Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service's newest on-call firefighters.

Thomas Mills, 26, established his welding and fabrication business, Factus Limited, in September 2022.

Tom, originally from Suffolk, moved to Gilsland three years ago. 

He completed his initial firefighting trainee course in June at Pegswood Fire Station, in Morpeth, along with an initial breathing and apparatus course in July and is now based at Haltwhistle Community Fire Station.

Hexham Courant: Tom working his day job as a welder and fabricatorTom working his day job as a welder and fabricator (Image: Supplied)

He served in the military for nine years from 16-years-old and left aged 25 in 2022, having worked in the Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers (REME) regiment as a welder and fabricator.

This regiment provides engineering support to maintain and repair the British Army's equipment. 

Tom said: "One of my good friends is an on-call firefighter for Haltwhistle and he would tell me about the job and his reasons for getting into it. At that time, I was looking for something along those lines with having been in the military and missing something like that.

"He told me they were needing some daytime cover and I thought about how it would work and what I could offer, and it turned out the two aligned quite well."

Tom said the range of potential fire service careers appeals to different people in different ways.

"I like to be a part of something bigger than myself and be part of a group. I need an exciting, high-demand environment and that's one thing the fire service offers that suits who I am quite well."

He added the firefighting training course was 'really exciting and really enjoyable'.

"It was quite demanding physically and mentally, but I would recommend anyone if they like a bit of a challenge and feel like they can push themselves, to give it a go. The training is really good and it is a relatively short course to get qualified to respond to jobs.

"The guys at Pegswood do a really good job at condensing everything down in a manageable way to help you learn and grow in such a short time to be able to be an effective firefighter."