The flames of love were lit for a couple of firefighters by working together at the same fire station.

Jane Northeast, 44, met her husband Steve, 45, at Epsom fire station where they worked on the same watch and travelled together in the same fire engine.

They married a decade ago and after switching to different shifts to cut the cost of childcare used to bring their son Connor, now 11, to the station in a carry cot and hand him over when switching shifts.

Nowadays the parent going on night shift still brings Connor to the station to swap over with their other half coming off the day shift.

But their routine could change if proposals to relocate one of Epsom’s two fire engines go-ahead, resulting in firefighters being split up.

Mrs Northeast said: "That’s not such a problem for us because we don’t work together anyway.

"But there’s the childcare issue would come in later on. We would have to sort something out there."

She said: "Connor has been brought up at the fire station since he was three months old. But he’s got no interest in firefighting whatsoever."

Mrs Northeast is one of only two women based in Epsom out of a team of nearly 50 firefighters.

She said: "I have never had a problem being a woman in a male environment. I guess I like being one of the lads.

"I have never come across anyone who does not agree with female firefighters in the job."

Mrs Northeast wanted to be a firefighter ever since she was a child when her ears used to prick up at the sound of fire engine sirens.

She took a desk job as a PA but at the age of 29 took the plunge to train as a firefighter just before the then-limit of 30 years old.

She said: "I decided to follow my dream before the cut-off age. I wanted to do something more physical and challenging and this was the job."

Mrs Northeast had to juggle proving herself as a female firefighter in training with looking after her eldest son Daniel, now 20, but has no regrets.

She said: "You just have to be a certain standard but you wanted to do a little bit more."

Two years ago she and a teammate wearing breathing apparatus rescued an unconscious man in his 80s from a burning building in Tadworth.

She said: "You put yourself in a lot of dangerous situations as a firefighter."

As well as fighting fires and helping the public the job also involves going into the community and teaching children in schools.

She said: "Every day is different and I just love fires. I’m fascinated by it all."