Jack combines his work at Asda Raunds with a role as a firefighter
- Our brilliant colleague Jack Lawrence combines working at our Raunds supermarket with a role as an on-call retained firefighter.
Jack, who's 20, always carries a pager with him and is ready to drop everything to make the short drive to Raunds Retained Fire Station when there's an emergency.
He said: "There's about ten crew members and we all have different jobs - a wide range of jobs. When my pager goes off, whatever job I'm doing, I've got to go. People I work with know about the pager and can hear it when it goes off and they know what I have to do. Everyone at the store supports me 100 per cent.
"We're given between five to eight minutes to get to the station and go basically! Luckily it's only down the road from the store, about a two-minute drive. All my kit is there on a peg ready and I just chuck it on over my Asda clothes and off I go.
"I've been called out on a range of incidents from house fires to car fires and car crashes and animal rescues."
Jack's worked at the store for three years and been a firefighter for a year-and-a-half.
He said: "The jobs balance each other out pretty well I think. As a firefighter I'm going to help someone on possibly the worst day of their life, whereas in Asda I'm stacking the shelves for people to buy their food for the week. Both are community roles really.
"We're quite a small community store here and the colleagues are really understanding and supportive. If I get called out I'm leaving work behind for others so I make such an effort to come back later and help them with their work. If needed I'll stay extra at the store to catch up and make sure we are in a good place.
Jack was inspired to be a firefighter by his grandad, Kenneth Hewitt, who passed away in 2010.
"He was a full-time firefighter. It was great listening to his stories and that is what inspired me the most," he said.
Jack, who has a girlfriend, Bayleigh Layram-Smith, lives at home in Raunds with his policeman dad Nick and mum Pam. He's also got a 24-year-old brother Toby, who's training to be a physiotherapist. "I get a great deal of support from everyone," said Jack.
Asda Raunds service section leader Terri York has nominated Jack for an Asda service superstar award. She says everyone at the store is so proud of Jack.
She said: "He regularly gets called out whilst at work and he always returns to fulfil his shift, making sure his team are in a good place before he leaves. I find that really admirable.
"He's a good lad and we are all supportive of what he does, 100 per cent. He runs, bless him, when he gets the call out."
Station manager Harvey Hilson, of Northamptonshire Fire & Rescue Service, said:
“We are very grateful for Asda to allow Jack to respond with Raunds station as an on- call firefighter. Jack is a highly motivated individual who responds to emergencies to fulfil his duties as a firefighter and always returns to work to complete his shift at Asda.”