South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue
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Fire service issues ‘don’t cook drunk’ plea to students this winter

Fire officers in Sheffield are asking local students not to cook whilst drunk this winter and, instead, help keep fire engines free for more serious emergencies.

The plea follows the Government’s recent announcement that pubs must now close at 10pm, which firefighters feel could prompt an increase in home drinking, cooking and parties.

They say that this, in turn, could lead to an increase in call outs to student accommodation across the city – something South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue is keen to prevent.

“We absolutely recognise how important it is that students enjoy their time at university, especially with what’s going on in the world right now, but we want to make sure they do it safely,” said Station Manager John Billings, who heads up the team at Central fire station.

“Something we’re very mindful of is that, with pubs now closing earlier to help stop the spread of COVID-19, students may be inclined to take the party back to their accommodation. We’ve no problem with this.

“Where we may have a problem, however, is if people start to act carelessly. From our perspective this can be extremely dangerous. Time and time again we are called to fires which have started when people have left the oven on and forgotten, or fallen asleep, due to alcohol or drugs.

“We’ve also attended lots of false alarms in the past where students have set fire alarms off for fun, or e-cigarettes and smoking have triggered smoke detection systems. Alcohol has been known to play a part in many of these cases, too.”

In order to reduce the risk to students, and to prevent an increase in calls, the service is asking them to do three things:

  • Get a takeaway rather than cooking drunk
  • Be mindful of smoke alarms when vaping or smoking
  • Do not use fire alarm call points unless there is a genuine emergency

These requests, which officers feel are reasonable, come ahead of a national Student Safety Week in October that SYFR has pledged to support.

“We think what we’re asking is fair and simple – we’re not trying to spoil anyone’s fun and don’t believe what we’re asking will have a huge impact on any big nights in,” added John.

“What it will do, though, is keep people safe, prevent our crews having to crash any parties and stop accommodation from being damaged or destroyed by fire.”

Draft risk management plan published

South Yorkshire’s fire service presented its latest plans for keeping local people safe next week – including proposals for how quickly it should respond to different types of emergency.

You can read our Draft Integrated Risk Management Plan 2021 to 2024 here.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue says it will still aim to attend every single 999 call as quickly as it possibly can, but that having a set of published response times will make it more accountable to local people, help it to improve its service and bring them in line with most other services around the country.

Currently the service simply aims to get to all emergencies as fast as it can, every time. A national inspection reported that it was undesirable for the service not to have a set of response standards.

The proposed new response time arrangements will take into account whether a person’s life is at risk, as well as the level of risk in different parts of the county based on historical incident data and other information.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer Chris Kirby said: “Adopting a more risk based approach allows us to ensure we are placing resources in the right places at the right time to best protect the communities we serve. This includes the work we do around preventing fires, protecting buildings and responding to incidents when they do occur.

“We will still aim to get to each emergency as fast as we can, but having a set of response times means we can measure our performance to ensure we are delivering the best possible service to our communities with the resources we have available to us.”

The response time proposals follow initial consultation with more than 3,000 local people and a thorough analysis of the different risks faced by the fire service in South Yorkshire.

They form part of the service’s latest draft ‘Integrated Risk Management Plan’. This is a plan which explains the different risks in South Yorkshire how the fire service intends to address them with the resources it has available.

The draft plan was discussed by members of the service’s governing Fire Authority on Monday (14 September), who instructed the service to begin a further period of consultation with staff and the public.

Calais to London mileage mission for Sheffield man’s Red Cross refugee cause

A Sheffield man is attempting to ‘run’ between Calais and London in a bid to raise cash and awareness for refugees.

Steve Kay, aged 36, has already clocked up 50 miles in his 108 miles mission to support the British Red Cross, which offers support, food and hygiene to refugees and people seeking asylum.

Steve, who works in the ICT team at South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, said: “2020 has been a tough year for many people across the world, but most of these hardships are a drop in the ocean compared to the horrors that refugees face in search of a better life for themselves and their families. Many refugees are forced to flee war-torn countries and are left with nothing, and the British Red Cross offer a vital lifeline in the form of supplies, communication and transport that serves to help them start a new life.”

Steve aims to have reached his mileage target- which matches the distance between Calais and London- by the end of September.

He’s already raised more than £400 for the British Red Cross, which aims to help people in crisis whoever and wherever they are.

People can sponsor Steve here https://miles-for-refugees-2020.everydayhero.com/uk/steven-kay

Firefighters graduate with live-streamed passing parade

The 65th firefighter recruits graduated with a passing out parade at the service’s training centre on Friday (7 September).

With large gatherings still not permitted, the ceremony was live streamed so that friends and families of the ten recruits could watch from home.

Chief Fire Officer Alex Johnson and Fire Authority Chair Cllr Robert Taylor both addressed the recruits.

The recruits were all presented with their certificates, before the award for top recruit was made to Paul Barrett.

You can watch the ceremony for yourselves on our YouTube Channel here

Fire service publishes new 999 response time proposals in latest risk plan

South Yorkshire’s fire service will present its latest plans for keeping local people safe next week – including proposals for how quickly it should respond to different types of emergency.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue says it will still aim to attend every single 999 call as quickly as it possibly can, but that having a set of published response times will make it more accountable to local people, help it to improve its service and bring them in line with most other services around the country.

Currently the service simply aims to get to all emergencies as fast as it can, every time. A national inspection reported that it was undesirable for the service not to have a set of response standards.

The proposed new response time arrangements will take into account whether a person’s life is at risk, as well as the level of risk in different parts of the county based on historical incident data and other information.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer Chris Kirby said: “Adopting a more risk based approach allows us to ensure we are placing resources in the right places at the right time to best protect the communities we serve. This includes the work we do around preventing fires, protecting buildings and responding to incidents when they do occur.

“We will still aim to get to each emergency as fast as we can, but having a set of response times means we can measure our performance to ensure we are delivering the best possible service to our communities with the resources we have available to us.”

The response time proposals follow initial consultation with more than 3,000 local people and a thorough analysis of the different risks faced by the fire service in South Yorkshire.

They form part of the service’s latest draft ‘Integrated Risk Management Plan’. This is a plan which explains the different risks in South Yorkshire how the fire service intends to address them with the resources it has available.

The draft plan will be discussed by members of the service’s governing Fire Authority on Monday (14 September), before a further period of consultation with staff and the public.

Recruitment opens for on-call firefighters across South Yorkshire

Six fire stations across South Yorkshire are recruiting now for on-call firefighters, with anyone interested urged to act quickly before the current recruitment window closes.

New recruits are needed at Penistone, Stocksbridge, Askern, Rossington, Birley and Dearne to help crews there respond to emergency calls and carry out important prevention work.

Anyone interested is urged to register their interest on the service’s website, here. Information about the next steps will then be sent out in due course.

On-call firefighters are local people who live or work within five minutes of their stations. They carry a pager when they are on-duty that alerts them when they are needed.

“The role our on-call firefighters play is vital – these are extraordinary people who drop everything when needed to attend emergency incidents in their local areas,” said SYFR Station Manager, Chris Tyler.

“They are given the same training as our full-time firefighters and, rightly, get exactly the same buzz, camaraderie and kudos that comes with such an important job.

“Our recruitment window will close at the end of September so I’d encourage anyone who wants to test themselves and fulfil this common childhood dream to act now.

“That especially includes anyone who is unsure whether this is the job for them. These are flexible roles and we will support people who have the right attitude and commitment.”

On-call staff are paid an annual ‘retainer’ fee and then get paid for each incident they attend. They are also paid for any community work they carry out and weekly training on station.

The flexible and adaptable nature of on-call firefighting means that it can be done on top of other full-time work, study or family commitments.

More information on the role can be found here. Alternatively, www.oncallfire.uk provides more detail about the major, national on-call recruitment drive that was launched last year.