A partnership youth project is helping to turn around anti-social behaviour in the South East of Sheffield

The Dark Nights project works with partners including Salvation Army, South Yorkshire Police, Activity Sheffield and South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue to deliver an eight week youth club project for young people in the area.

The scheme was awarded nearly £5900 under the South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Authority’s funding scheme, Stronger Safer Communities Reserve.

The project runs from January to March, when the number of alternative, positive activities available to youngsters in the area is normally at its lowest. Young people meet once a week to take part in activities, including tours of the fire training and development centre, as well as educational sessions around first aid, road safety, fire investigation, social media awareness and the consequences of anti-social behaviour.

Andrew Watson at Salvation Army said; “We are thankful to South Yorkshire Fire Authority’s funding which has enabled the project to proceed. It continues to be popular with young people and provides a great approach to preventing future anti social behaviour as well as making young people more responsible for their safety and the community they live in.”

SYFR Station Manager Matt Gillatt said: “Engaging with young people in this way is one of the best ways of building lasting, positive relationships which have long term benefits for the communities we serve. It’s only by working together that public agencies can put together initiatives like this one and we are grateful to all the partners involved in helping us deliver these youth clubs.”

The Stronger Safer Communities Reserve saw dozens of registered charities, community organisations and partner agencies come forward and apply for grants from the £2 million fund, which had been set aside from the Authority’s reserves. Groups were able to bid for as little as £5,000 or as much as £150,000 to support projects which reduce injuries, save lives and make South Yorkshire safer.

Firefighters have been reunited with a horse they rescued after it became trapped in its horse box by its legs.

Central white watch returned to meet the horse, called Nimrod, and its owner after a distressing incident back in January.

Nimrod had panicked and jumped over the jockey door in his horse box into a very small space with his back legs jammed over the top of a steel bar. His owner Colleen Eccles was unable to free him so a friend at the stables called the fire service to assist.

Firefighters were able to slowly remove the bar and rescue him from his ordeal. The crew have now been back to visit Nimrod to see how he is getting on, with Colleen using the visit as a chance to thank the crew for everything they did to save her beloved horse.

Crew Manager Jo Hoare said, “It was a challenging rescue as Nimrod is a large horse and was very scared and in pain from the position he was in. The crew worked together to release the bar. Luckily it was a happy ending and it’s been great to come back and see Nimrod in more normal circumstances.”

Owner Colleen Eccles said. “I can’t thank the firefighters enough, their brave and decisive efforts saved the life of my beautiful horse. They were amazing, despite the size and upset nature of Nimrod they safely cut him out of the terrible position he had got himself into.”

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue attends dozens of animal rescues every year. These fall under the 1,500 ‘special service’ incidents South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue attends each year, including freeing people from road traffic collisions, water rescues, flooding and lift releases. That’s on top of the thousands of house, property and smaller fires it also attends each year.

The nation’s premier museum celebrating the work of the emergency services will deliver interactive safety information to thousands of visitors thanks to a fire service funded facilities overhaul.

The National Emergency Services museum has launched its new fire and road safety educational facilities with museum goers now benefiting from updated fire safety messages delivered by new computer and audio equipment.

The unveiling this week was attended by representatives from all the emergency services along with members of the South Yorkshire Fire Authority.

The museum gained national status in January 2014 and is embarking on a major re-development.

The National Emergency Services Museum in Sheffield was awarded nearly £20,000 to help upgrade its educational display, under the South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Authority’s funding scheme, the Stronger Safer Communities Reserve.

Chair of the Fire Authority, Cllr Jim Andrews said: “The museum has undergone a fantastic refurbishment and upgrade of its educational displays which reflect the most up to date and relevant safety information, which will ultimately help to reduce deaths and injuries from fires and on the roads.”

Matt Wakefield at the National Emergency Services Museum, said: “It’s great to receive support of this nature as it allows the museum to grow, develop and continue to promote life safety through hands-on learning with history.”

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue’s latest group of new recruits has successfully graduated following 13 weeks of intensive training.

The group of eight firefighters have completed their training at the Training and Development Centre (TDC) in Handsworth and will now join the fire crews at their respective stations at Parkway and Rotherham.

The passing out parade at TDC was attended by their family and friends along with local dignitaries.

During the parade, the newly qualified firefighters showcased their skills and techniques by rescuing casualties from a mock road traffic collision, before being presented with their certificates.

The much anticipated award for Top Trainee went to Firefighter Kim Wilkinson who was presented with the silver axe.

Head of Emergency Response Phil Shillito said: “The recruits have gone through rigorous training to incorporate the demands of the modern firefighter role as we continue to provide the best possible 999 service to the public. They have worked really hard and their achievements today are well deserved.

“The financial pressures the fire and rescue service faces are both well documented and unprecedented. But by recruiting these individuals we have also shown that despite the challenges we face we remain committed to supporting our future.
“We wish them all the best for their future career.”

Firefighters at Stocksbridge station have responded to more than 50 medical emergencies, two months after the launch of South Yorkshire’s first Emergency First Responder (EFR) scheme.

The scheme is a joint initiative between South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue (SYFR) and Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust (YAS) which sees firefighters called out to certain life-threatening incidents at the same time as an ambulance.

Medical emergencies attended since the scheme went live on 1 November 2015 include several cardiac arrests and incidents stating chest pains and breathing difficulties. At other incidents, firefighters have provided support and made the patient comfortable until the ambulance service arrived on scene.

Training for firefighters taking part in the pilot included basic life support, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and oxygen therapy. They are equipped with a kit which includes oxygen and an automated external defibrillator to help patients in a medical emergency such as a heart attack, collapse or breathing difficulties.

An EFR is despatched at the same time as an ambulance and does not replace the usual emergency medical response from YAS. However, their location within the local community could mean they are nearer to the scene in those first critical minutes of a medical emergency, delivering life-saving care until an ambulance arrives.

They also support and complement other volunteer community first responder schemes within South Yorkshire, ensuring the level of medical provision to local communities is supplemented.

Emergency First Responders are only available for dispatch when staffing levels at their fire station allow and the scheme does not impact fire cover.

On-call firefighters at Rossington and Dearne fire stations have become the latest in South Yorkshire to attend EFR calls.

Head of Emergency Response at SYFR Phil Shillito said: “Two months after this scheme went live, our firefighters are already showing the incredible value they can add to their communities and the role we can play as a fire service in enhancing the work of our emergency service partners and volunteer community first responders.

“Our role as a fire service will always be to protect our communities and reach and save those who are in danger as quickly as possible. So I think it’s only natural for us to look for other ways to extend our skills and support the work of other local bodies, like the ambulance service.”

YAS Head of Community Resilience Paul Stevens said: “The demand placed upon blue light emergency services increases every year and our approaches to providing the best response and best patient outcomes are continually evolving. This is an innovative and alternative way of working with our partners which will lead to more lives being saved.”

South Yorkshire firefighters have been asked to take part in the flood relief in Lancashire.

A group of 13 firefighters are travelling to the flood hit area, taking the High Volume Pump (HVP) to assist emergency services battling the flooding.

HVPs are capable of moving huge volumes of water, and South Yorkshire’s is capable of pumping 8,000 litres of water a minute. Once they arrive in Lancashire they will then be deployed to where they are needed most.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue’s firefighters, most of whom are normally based at Aston Park  and Tankersley fire stations, are expected to remain in Lancashire for several days.

Head of Emergency Response Phil Shillito, said: “We are pleased to be able to offer practical and strategic support to our colleagues in Lancashire.”

“The High Volume Pump is an extremely powerful piece of kit and is ideally suited to helping to deal with the quantities of water we are talking about in Lancashire right now.

“To be part of such a massive relief effort is extremely rewarding for those involved and I would like to thank them on behalf of the people that they are assisting.”

Senior officers agreed to make their resources available following a request from the National Co-ordinating Centre, after ensuring they were satisfied with the fire and rescue provision which remains available for local people in South Yorkshire.

The fire service’s tradition of sharing national assets benefited communities in Doncaster in 2007, when more than 30 HVPs from all over the country helped to pump out flooded areas around Bentley and Toll Bar.

A fire service emergency planning manager has delivered a major speech on business continuity to a global audience.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue (SYFR) business continuity manager Russ Parramore delivered a speech at the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) World Conference and Exhibition in London, which attracted more than 1,000 delegates from over 100 countries.

The presentation detailed how the fire service has developed its risk, resilience and business continuity arrangements throughout history.

In particular, Russ focussed on the introduction of the Fire and Rescue Service Act [2004] and the Civil Contingencies Act [2004, which created a new requirement for the fire service to have business continuity plans in place.

As a result of these laws, the presentation detailed how SYFR has developed its plans over the last decade to become of the world’s leading public service authorities on business continuity.

Russ Parramore said: “Business continuity is a hot topic for many large organisations, both public and private, as they seek to work out how they can limit the disruption to their staff and the people they serve after a catastrophic event, which could range from a simple power outage to severe staff shortages.

“The fire service has always been at the forefront of this sort of work and risk and resilience has been at the heart of what we do for hundreds of years.

“It’s a coup for South Yorkshire and for the fire sector as a whole that I was able to share my experiences with a global audience and to explain how business continuity has gone from being seen as a statutory duty that must be done, to something that is truly embedded across an entire organisation.”

For more information on business continuity, visit https://www.syfire.gov.uk/business-advice/business-continuity