A BASILDON firefighter has taken centre stage to mark National Apprenticeship week, which ends tomorrow (Sunday, 14 February).

Tariq Khan has been a firefighter for 15 years. He's part of Blue Watch at Basildon Fire Station and alongside his role as a firefighter, he's working towards a Personal Training Instructor apprenticeship.

Following in his father's footsteps, Tariq became a firefighter after realising he didn't want to work in an office. He said: "I wanted a career where I had the opportunity to be active and help people."

Being active is a big part of being a firefighter and maintaining your fitness level is critical to the role. Each year, our firefighters take a fitness test to ensure their fitness levels are up to scratch.

As a new way to encourage fitness and wellbeing in Essex fire stations, the force's Service Fitness team worked with the Fire Brigades Union's learning centre to introduce a Personal Training Instructor (PTI) apprenticeship for anyone interested in learning more about fitness and nutrition.

Tariq is one of 12 firefighters on the PTI course.

"I have always had a strong interest in fitness and training. I have spent a good portion of my career training with my watch and organising circuits for our day shifts. It made perfect sense to look into the apprenticeship and gain a better understanding of fitness as a whole," said Tariq.

"It has given me the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of fitness, anatomy and physiology, nutrition and the scientific evidence to support different styles and training techniques," Tariq said. "Working with other colleagues from around the service with similar interests has been an absolute highlight."

Like many other organisations across the world, we've had to adapt during the Covid-19 pandemic and for our PTI apprentices, that meant taking their learning online.

Tariq said: "Much of the training was carried out via Zoom calls and private study. I was given time to achieve this study by the service. A massive credit to the apprenticeship was the work put in by our tutor. The work he put in on the Zoom sessions and helping us all with learning from home was absolutely vital to the success of our course this year."

For anyone considering an apprenticeship alongside their job role, Tariq's advice is: "It's absolutely worth considering however be aware that it takes up a fair amount of time and commitment to complete the workload."

Clare Smith, Fitness Manager said: "I am really proud to be involved in the PTI apprenticeship the Service is currently supporting. The group of personnel that are close to finishing their PTI apprenticeship have worked extremely hard during the course; especially keeping focused during this challenging time.

"All the apprentices have gained a wealth of knowledge in all types of fitness training that they can bring back to station and help support their colleagues in maintaining fitness standards. I believe having this link with the PTIs on station will aid the fitness team in their aim to support all service personnel with fitness and wellbeing. They should all be very proud of themselves and are a value to the service."

Matt Norris, Fitness Advisor, has completed the course himself and encourages others to consider the apprenticeship to learn more about fitness and nutrition.

He said: "The course takes a very in depth look at different training methods, physiology and nutrition, meaning those on the course are going to be able to take a lot of knowledge back to stations.

"This will benefit the watches greatly as while the fitness team is always here to help anyone who would like any advice or support with their fitness, some people may feel more comfortable asking a watch member for guidance.

"Having been on the course myself, I know that everybody on it will be able to offer really valuable fitness advice. They will also be a link between stations and the fitness team, meaning they can feed back to the fitness team anything they need to and they can be our first port of call for anything fitness related at the station."

For more advice about apprenticeships available in service, visit essex-fire.gov.uk/apprenticeships