Tony Smyth, who manages Five Towns' stations, is struggling to find recruits to be on call during the day at Featherstone and said young mums with children at school would fit the bill.

He said: "Featherstone fire station is retained so firefighters respond from their own electronic alerters.

"We are having problem at Featherstone with day time cover. We used to employ a lot of people from the mining industry who could cover around the clock because they did shifts.

"We have lost a few people recently to retirement and it's getting hard to keep it on the run. It's ideal for the likes of young mums who have children at school who can respond during the day."

Recruits need to live within a mile of the station to respond as quickly as possibly when their alarms go off.

Featherstone fire station has two vehicles – one pump and a prime mover, which carries specialist equipment.

At the moment, there are 14 firefighters, of which about eight can cover during the day, but watch manager Alan Widdowson said he would like to have 20 firefighters.

He said a lot of his firefighters struggled to get time off because staffing was so tight.

He said: "During days and weekends it is becoming a problem. Anyone who can be free during the day is valuable to us. Staff can't get time off because we are so strapped for people and sometimes we have to get people in from other stations to cover.

"The only real shift-based employer around here is Linpac, and we have a few men from there. We also have a self-employed man who is able to work around his firefighter duties.

"And young mothers is a good idea, if they take their children to school and have time during the day.

"The training is quite demanding but it's a very rewarding job. It helps build confidence and you get to go out and and serve the community you live in."