A mum hopes speaking out about her journey to become an on-call firefighter will inspire others to join the service.

Florence Coetzer, 35, works full-time as a personal assistant at a property company in London, but has spent her spare time training to put out fires and conduct rescues.

Now a fully-qualified member of the Wye team, she fits her daring side job around her commute, job and caring for her two-year-old daughter.

She had her first experience with the emergency service when she was 10 years old.

Mrs Coetzer - who lives in Wye - said: "Several months after Christmas, my dad was trying to burn our very old and dry Christmas tree on our open fire and accidentally set the chimney alight.

"Fortunately, it wasn’t too serious, but I remember feeling really inspired by how brilliantly and efficiently the crew dealt with it, and this stayed in my mind for many years.

"After that, growing up in Wye with a fire station in the village, I always wanted to be a firefighter."

She completed her training in February before attending her first fire, a large warehouse inferno that required four crews to get it under control.

She said: "I was naturally a bit daunted at first; would it work with my existing commitments.

"Would it work with my commute? Would I hear my pager going off? Would I remember my training?

'My message to anyone else considering whether it might be for them would be that if I can do it, anyone can...' - Florence Coetzer

"But my fire station mentor at Wye, Mike, who also commutes for his primary role, reassured me at every step.

"My day job has hardly been impacted by call outs I have attended, and my main employer has been very supportive and understanding.

"They appreciate the additional skills I can bring into the work place, such as my enhanced first aid training, and even gave me a ‘Going Above & Beyond’ award for the work I am doing in my local community with the fire service, whilst balancing my day job and being a working-mum, which made me really proud.

"So apart from the odd occasion where I have been kept up in the night with my daughter and also had a fire call-out, things are working out really well in terms of balancing my roles."

Mrs Coetzer is contracted to the fire service for 50 hours each week when she makes herself available to respond to call outs from Wye fire station.

She said: "I was the only woman on my training course, but everyone I trained with was brilliant, and I was treated exactly the same as the men, which I found really encouraging.

"It is really exciting to work in a profession that so openly encourages equal opportunities.”

"My message to anyone else considering whether it might be for them would be that if I can do it, anyone can.

"It is such a privilege to work with the crew at Wye, who have so much experience. I would urge people who enjoy a good challenge to apply and join our crew, you really won’t regret it."

On-call firefighters are required to live or work within five minutes travelling time from a local on-call fire station and are paid to be available for an agreed number of hours.

During that time, they are able to carry on their normal life, but are paid to be available when an incident comes in.

Applicants must be at least 18 years old and have a good level of all-round fitness.

To find out more about becoming an on-call firefighter and for a full list of recruiting stations visit: www.kent.fire-uk.org