Fire broke out on the third floor of Wheatley fire station -- as it often does. The blaze spread to the second floor as a team of firefighters struggled to control it.

Fortunately, it was only a training drill for the station's part-time retained firefighters and they found time afterwards to talk about the vital service they provide.

Our lives depend on the men and women of the Oxfordshire Fire Service but new recruits are in short supply. The service urgently needs 33 more part-time firefighters to bring crews at the county's 24 fire stations up to full strength. Henley fire station alone is ten short.

After two members of the staff left the area, Wheatley's crew is down to 11 firefighters. A minimum of six must be available at any given time: four to ride the pump and two to handle a specialist hose-layer that spews out a kilometre of pipe to reach water sources in rural areas such as rivers.

Insiders say being a retained firefighter is a vocation. But it can also bring extra income of more than £5,000 a year and break up the nine-to-five routine of a day job, when a bleeper summons crews to a 999 call.

Steve Jordan, 37, is a sales assistant at Jewson's, who joined Wheatley fire station five years ago.

Thanks to his employer's flexibility, he is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and revels in the challenge and camaraderie of firefighting.

"It's a complete contrast to my work at Jewson's," he said. "I sometimes have to drop whatever I'm doing and go. Most of my customers are regulars, who understand the situation, and most of the call-outs last less than an hour, so it's not too disruptive. Once, though, it meant that I left a caller on hold for rather a long time."

Firefighters must live within five minutes of their station. Wheatley gets around 300 calls a year.

Retained crews are expected to respond to at least 75 per cent of calls each year, and receive £12 for every call, plus an annual allowance of at least £1,500, depending on rank.

Mr Jordan's biggest challenge so far involved helping deal with 17 burning lorries at an Oxford depot.

"Animal rights protesters had put incendiary devices into lorries at the Unigate dairy in Cowley," he said. "I had to keep track of all the firefighters who'd gone in to deal with it."

He added: "It's nice when people send in thank you letters. We once saved a vintage Saab that caught fire on the road to Waterperry. It went on to win its class in a Land's End to John o'Groats rally and the owner sent us a poster saying it was all thanks to Wheatley firefighters."

Firefighters tackle more road crashes than fires these days. Wheatley's senior firefighter, Sub Officer Clive Durbin, says this is due to better household precautions, such as the installation of smoke alarms.

Mr Durbin said: "When a coach crashed on the M40, I spent two hours with a surgeon trying to free the driver whose legs were trapped.

"The biggest buzz I got was to see him come away from the subsequent inquiry in a wheelchair. He had lived."

He added: "In another case, we helped save a driver who was impaled on a fence post close to his heart."

Team-spirit helps crews cope with the pressures. South Oxfordshire's fire risk manager Kevin Parfitt said: "There's a great sense of humour. It helps deal with the post-traumatic stress which does build up. Counselling services are available. There's none of that 'macho' ethos."

Deputy chief fire officer John Hurren said: "We run a continuous recruitment campaign because about 40 part-time firefighters leave each year and need to be replaced."

Oxfordshire has 26 women part-time firefighters and Mr Hurren said he hoped more women would apply.

Recruitment days are held every two months at Rewley Road fire station, in Oxford. For details, call 0800 5870870. You must be aged between 18 and 55.

Crew shortfall The current number of vacancies for retained firefighters in the county is as follows:

Hook Norton (four)

Chipping Norton (four)

Deddington (four)

Witney (four)

Rewley Road (two)

Henley (ten)

Wheatley (two)

Faringdon (two)

Wantage (one)

Total: 33 posts Oxfordshire Fire Service qualifications for entry

*no previous convictions

*aged 18-55

*medically fit

*pass tests for "aptitude, education, strength and fitness"