South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue
  • In emergencies call 999
  • General enquiries 0114 272 7202

Andy Strelczenie named Deputy Chief Fire Officer

Andy Strelczenie has been named South Yorkshire’s Deputy Chief Fire Officer, following a rigorous selection process.

Andy, who is currently the service’s Assistant Chief Fire Officer, was promoted following multiple recruitment stages and an interview by the Fire Authority’s appointments committee.

Andy has worked within the fire and rescue service for 27 years, originally at Hereford and Worcester Fire & Rescue Service before transferring to South Yorkshire where he has overseen emergency response, service improvement, business fire safety and inspection planning, amongst other roles.

Fire Authority Chair Cllr Charlie Hogarth, said: “The Fire Authority’s appointments panel found Andy to be an extremely impressive candidate and we were excited by his vision for the service. We were unanimous in our decision to appoint him to the position of Deputy Chief Fire Officer and are excited to continue working closely with him in his new role.”

Andy Strelczenie, said: “I look forward to working with people across the service to continually improve the work we do for local people. I very much look forward to using my skills and experience to foster a positive workplace culture for all our staff.”

Andy will take up his new role in March, when the current Deputy Chief Fire Officer Tony Carlin retires.

Fire service film launches year of 50th celebrations

The county’s fire service has announced plans to mark its 50th anniversary, after publishing a poem and a video celebrating South Yorkshire’s culture and heritage.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue has released ‘South Yorkshire, our love’ in recognition of its five decades serving its communities.

Watch the video here

The poem is voiced by Sheffield’s Lioness and world cup finalist Esme Morgan, with the music track performed by the South Yorkshire Police band- with the police also marking their 50th anniversary in 2024.

Chief Fire Officer Chris Kirby, said: “Everyone at South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue is incredibly proud of our county’s heritage, culture and its people. Everyone who joins us does so because they hold a burning desire to help others. We feel honoured to have been doing that for almost 50 years now.”

“We’ve got lots of plans to celebrate our half century throughout 2024- from open days and fundraisers, to staff celebrations and a few surprises along the way. We’re really excited to involve local people in our plans as the year goes on.”

Professional firefighting in South Yorkshire dates back much longer than 50 years.

But it was at midnight of 31 March 1974 that the City of Sheffield Fire Brigade, Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Fire Brigade, Rotherham Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Barnsley Metropolitan Fire Brigade, and the parts of the former West Riding Fire Brigade that lay with the new South Yorkshire boundary, became what was then known as South Yorkshire County Fire Service.

For more information and updates about the service’s 50th celebrations visit www.syfire.gov.uk, or find South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue on WhatsApp Channels.

ENDS

Government statement on fire safety remediation work backed

Calls for building owners to speed up fire safety remediation work have been backed by the county’s fire service.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue supports a joint statement from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and regulatory bodies which warns building owners that they need to get on with remediation work or face enforcement action.

“The DLUHC statement- issued jointly by the government, Building Safety Regulator, the Local Government Association and the National Fire Chiefs Council, says:

“Building owners have always been responsible for fixing fire safety defects in their properties.

“Even where funding for remediation work has been agreed by the government, some building owners are still stalling – preventing vital safety work from starting and damaging residents’ quality of life.

“Whilst we are pleased that a number of landlords have done the right thing and remediated their buildings, it is unacceptable that too many are still failing to make their buildings safe.

“We are united in our determination to ensure building owners comply with the law and remediate their defective buildings without delay. Local authorities and fire and rescue services are already taking enforcement against building owners who are dragging their feet. Since 2018, local authorities have taken enforcement action on over 200 high rise buildings; and fire and rescue services have also served over 250 enforcement notices. But there is still more to do.

“We welcome the legal powers provided by the Building Safety Act 2022 and remain committed to working together and supporting local authorities and fire and rescue services to use the full range of their enforcement powers to full effect. The Building Safety Regulator will start enforcing building safety in residential buildings above 18 metres or seven storeys in spring 2024. Those who have yet to remediate can expect early attention from the Building Safety Regulator.

“Building owners who are continuing to stall should know they are running out of time if they are to avoid being forced to act. With the implementation of the Building Safety Act’s new building safety regime and the imminent launch of the Building Safety Regulator, we are tightening the regulatory screw. Regulators will not hesitate to take enforcement action against building owners if they do not comply with their legal duties. Together, we will make sure there are consequences for building owners who fail to do the right thing and that those responsible make their buildings safe.”

Silver award recognises armed forces support

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue (SYFR) has been recognised by the Ministry of Defence for its commitment to the armed forces community.

SYFR has been named a Silver award-winning organisation under the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS), delivered locally by the Reserve Forces & Cadets Association for Yorkshire & Humber.

The ERS consists of three award levels – bronze, silver, gold. Each level indicates an organisation’s commitment and involvement to offer support programmes that align with the scheme’s framework.

The main objective of the scheme is for employers to endorse their employees who are military personnel (current, former and associated) and enable development opportunities that support their current or past duty to the forces with their civilian employment. The scheme also encourages overall support of the general armed forces community.

Silver ERS Award winners will be celebrated regionally at an awards event in York in September.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Group Manager Mike Anthony, said: “At South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue we recognise the invaluable contribution members of the Armed Forces Community make. As a service we want to promote the fact we are a Armed Forces friendly organisation and being awarded the Silver award further celebrates all of the positive action we are taking in support of the Armed Forces community.”

Major General Marc Overton, Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Reserves and Cadets) says: “I would like to thank and congratulate the recipients of this year’s Employer Recognition Scheme Silver Awards. A Silver award recognises the fantastic efforts of employers throughout the UK who have both elevated their communities under the Armed Forces Covenant and provided actual benefits to the Armed Forces Community. The winners should all be proud of their life-changing impact and fresh opportunities they are providing to our Reservists, veterans and their families. The number of winners this year yet again shows that the Armed Forces family talent pool is also providing tangible business benefits.”

ENDS

Fire service campaign aims to tackle leading cause of property fires

Firefighters across South Yorkshire are urging people to be more careful with electrical goods, as part of a new safety campaign intent on reducing local house fires.

The county’s fire service says that it has attended over 300 house fires in the last three years, where electrics have been to blame, making it one of the leading causes of accidental dwelling fire in the county.

And with the use of things like e-scooters and e-cigarettes on the rise, and the increased availability of cheaper, imitation electrical goods online, officers are concerned that they could see more such fires going forward.

They say that whilst house fires generally are continuing to drop, electrical fires – caused by things such as white goods, phone chargers and dodgy wiring – are still not going away.

“We’re proud of the work we’ve done over the last decade to massively reduce house fires across South Yorkshire, but our figures suggest electrical fires are still a big issue for us,” said Area Manager Matt Gillatt, head of the joint fire and police community safety team.

“As well as being a leading cause of house fire generally, we are very conscious that thousands of electrical items are sold each day to people across the county. Be it washing machines or tumble dryers, e-cigs or e-scooters, phone chargers or computer tablets, electrical goods are everywhere.

“We are also conscious that people are busier than ever, and as the cost of living continues to rise, people’s priorities may change when it comes to fire safety. That’s why we’ve launched this latest campaign – we want people to try and take a little bit extra care when it comes to electrics.”

The service is asking people to do some specific things in order to reduce their risk of having an electrical fire.

Firstly, firefighters are asking that people ensure their white goods – such as washing machines, fridges and tumble dryers – are registered. This ensures that they will be notified if there are any potential issues or recalls with that product.

Secondly, people are being asked to avoid leaving washers and dryers on at night or when they are out. Lots of incidents attended by fire crews across South Yorkshire have started when an appliance has malfunctioned with nobody there to turn it off prior to a fire starting.

Residents are also urged not to buy fake electrical goods, however cheap they might be, and not to overload plug sockets and extension leads – most of which can only take 13 amps which is the equivalent of one kettle.

“It’s really important to stress that we don’t just want people to be safe so that we can reduce our incident numbers,” added Matt.

“House fires, regardless of the cause, can be absolutely devastating from a financial perspective – and they can really disrupt your life.

Even at the incidents where nobody is harmed, generally people end up displaced as they either can’t use, access or safely live in their damaged home anymore.”

For more information on home and electrical fire safety, and to book a home safety check from local crews, visit www.syfire.gov.uk.

Prohibition Notice lifted on Wicker Riverside

The Prohibition Notice on Wicker Riverside Apartments has today been lifted, following the installation of a new alarm system.

All residents are now allowed back into the building and will be able to enjoy Christmas in their own homes.

Assistant Chief Fire Officer Tony Carlin said; “I would like to thank all the residents and the responsible person who have worked so well with our Fire Safety Inspectors and Sheffield City Council to enable the Prohibition Notice to be lifted in such a short amount of time.

“We are pleased that residents will now be able to spend Christmas in their own homes.”

South Yorkshire house fire figures drop to all time low

The amount of house fires in South Yorkshire is the lowest it has been for 10 years, the county’s fire service has revealed.

Figures published by South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue today, Wednesday 10 June, show that firefighters attended 472 accidental dwelling fires during the last financial year – 2019/20.

That is a 13 percent reduction on the previous year – 2018/19 – during which there was 542 such incidents, and is a 29 percent reduction on the 664 attended in 2010/11.

Importantly, the fire service says, it is the first time since records began that the amount of yearly accidental house fires has been in the 400s.

“It goes without saying that this is excellent news and testament to the hard work of our staff over the last decade – during what has been a challenging time for the public sector,” said Area Manager Simon Dunker, head of the joint police and fire community safety team.

“Every home safety check, every school visit and every safety campaign has contributed towards this reduction and we must also note the co-operation of each and every member of the public who has taken on board our safety advice.

“There’s still more to be done, though. The 472 accidental house fires we had last year were 472 too many and our work to make South Yorkshire safer and stronger will carry on into the next decade, and beyond, to try and reduce these incident numbers further.”

The service has also unveiled the number of home safety visits its staff have done in the last few years, with 68,000 being logged since the start of 2016, four years ago.

Fire services are required, by the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, to promote fire safety and proactively help reduce the risk their communities face.

This means undertaking things such as home safety visits and safe & well checks, visiting schools and developing partnerships with other agencies that help benefit the public.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue also prides itself on being one of the country’s leading fire and rescue services when it comes to delivering community safety campaigns.

Its recent Protect Your Pets campaign helped reduce electrical fires by 30 percent – whilst the Do Your Bit campaign drove down deliberate fires set during the summer months.

Charity car wash events – March 2020

UPDATE:

Please note that all car wash events during March have been cancelled.

Firefighters will be washing cars throughout March as part of a national charity event.

The events are aimed at raising money for The Fire Fighter’s Charity, which supports injured firefighters and their families.

The following stations are taking part in the annual event during March.

Cancelled – Adwick station – Thursday 12 March – 2pm -5:30pm (Quarry Lane, Woodlands, Doncaster, DN6 7RT)

Cancelled – Rossington station – Saturday 28 March – 10am – 4pm (West End Lane, Rossington, Doncaster, DN11 0PQ)

Why not pop along to one of the above and get your car cleaned all in aid of The Fire Fighters charity.

Fire and police youth course participants secure William Cook roles

A South Yorkshire teen has started an apprenticeship with a major Sheffield manufacturing firm, thanks to a fire and police led youth course.

Jay Woodhead, aged 17, from Wybourn, Sheffield started work at William Cook Cast Products after completing Princes Trust Team Programme- a 12 week development course that’s jointly run by South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue and South Yorkshire Police.

Jay will be employed in the moulding section and will travel to Birmingham once a month to fulfil his training obligations.

Jay said: “If it wasn’t for the Team Programme I would still be sat in my bedroom wondering why no-one was offering me a job. This has focussed my job search and the impact has been proven by the number of positive responses I have received since. I am really looking forward to starting my new apprenticeship and would like to thank everyone for the help getting here.”

He’s the second course participant to have secured employment at William Cook, after Joe Rodgers earned a role as an apprentice pattern maker. He’d previously spent a fortnight on work experience at the firm- walking an hour and a half to get to work each day.

Joe, aged 22, from Parson Cross, Sheffield, had been long term unemployed. He said: “Team Programme really helped me improve myself for the better. It improved my prospects and gave me a clear path to a job that I am loving. I never saw myself in this role and instead thought I would work in retail. My time on work experience really opened my eyes to the jobs available. I would like to thank John, Andy and all the team at The Prince’s Trust and Kevan at William Cook for the opportunity of work experience that led to this role.”

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue and South Yorkshire Police teamed up with the Prince’s Trust to deliver the Team Programme three years ago. During that time more than 200 young people have benefited from the 12 week personal development course for unemployed 16 – 25 year olds, offering work experience, qualifications, practical skills, community projects and a residential week.

The courses are based at fire stations and are the only programmes of their type in the country to be jointly delivered by fire and police services. For more information or to sign-up, email princestrust@syfire.gov.uk