A fire service volunteer has gained vital life and social skills thanks to a scheme which helps people with autism.

The Autism Centre for Supported Employment, is a small charity which supports adults with autism, aspergers and learning disabilities into paid employment and work experience placements.

Jonathon Clarke, from Sheffield, has been volunteering at South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, through the scheme, for the past two years, working in the canteen at the Training & Development Centre in Handsworth, Sheffield, two days a week.

His role involves preparing meals for the dozens of firefighters, support staff and external partners who use the busy centre every day.

Jonathon, who has autism, says he loves his work at the fire service, citing feelings of value, respect and teamwork for improving his wellbeing. The favourite parts of his role include interacting with colleagues and firefighters and preparing salads and desserts.

Jonathon, 31, is learning and gaining new skills in a safe environment with staff that he trusts and who have the skills and training to understand and support his needs.

Jonathon Clarke said; “I like to meet everybody at work and they are very friendly with me. When I prepare the food I enjoy that people like to eat what I make and that everyone is so pleased with me. I enjoy catching the buses and going to work every week and know that I am doing well.”

Sue Butler, Volunteering Co-ordinator at South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue said; “Jonathon has continued to show excellent commitment to his volunteering role and has learned a lot of new skills since starting work with us. As well as supporting the smooth running of our busy training centre, we know we are giving him important employment skills which he will be able to transfer to future jobs. The team are really supportive of him, and Jonathon seems to love working with them. We are really proud of Jonathon, he is a credit to the training centre, the Autism Centre and to himself.”

If you are interested in volunteering for South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue call 0114 253 2413.

Police and fire officers have today launched a hard-hitting campaign to target the number of young people deliberately starting fires.

Dubbed ‘Connor’s story’, the campaign tells the fictional story of local teenager, Connor, who, alongside his friends, sets fire to the contents of a wheelie bin which explodes in his face leaving him disfigured with severe facial burns.

The campaign, which is a joint Suth Yorkshire Police and South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service initiative, will run until the end of the year with a focus on reducing the amount of arson incidents involving young people.

Last year, the force dealt with 681 incidents of arson- a 17% reduction on the previous year (2013- 799 crimes).

Analysis of arson related incidents over the last year (August 2014 – June 2015) showed that 80% of offenders were male with most aged between 11- 16 years.

The campaign will also be using the hashtag #ConnorsStory to promote messages on Twitter and other social media channels.

Hundreds of stickers will also be placed on wheelie bins across the county as a reminder for people to take their bin out on the morning of a collection. This follows a large proportion of fires that have been started after bins were set alight after been left out overnight for a collection the following morning.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue head of community safety Kevin Ronan, said: “Three quarters of all the fires we attend are started deliberately, which is a massive drain on our resources. Starting fires is reckless and costs lives, as even small fires like bin and rubbish fires can quickly spread, take fire engines away from more serious incidents and put you and the people you love in real danger.”

Superintendent Colin McFarlane, South Yorkshire Police’s lead officer on anti-social behaviour, said: “The aim of this campaign is to make young people and their parents sit up and realise the very real consequences associated with incidents of arson.

“I make no apology for the graphic nature of the image we are using to promote the campaign as setting fire to someone’s bin may be seen by a lot of people as not much more than a prank but this type of anti-social behaviour can have fatal and life altering consequences.

“I would hate to think that this type of thing could happen to anyone’s child and I would urge parents to continue to speak to their children about the absolute dangers of playing with fire.”

A successful scheme to improve safety education in South Yorkshire is gaining international recognition, thanks to a fire service funding grant.

The education package has been developed by Sheffield Children’s Centre working closely with children, families and carers to help form appropriate, age specific safety messages to reduce deaths and injuries.

An Early Years Practitioner Guide, Fire Safety Song Book and Heroes & Heroines story book have been developed as a result of the £20,000 grant from South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Authority’s Safer Sustainable Communities Reserve.

Now, a new suite of qualifications for early years practitioners is being developed after the learning package included early years groups and practitioners in the pilot phase, who are members of the Pre-School Learning Alliance, National Day Nursery Association and the Cooperative Childcare sector. The qualifications will seek to set a national standard for teaching fire and other safety messages to young children.

The project has established international links as some of the education materials have been developed with the help of young people from Mexico, who worked with children here in South Yorkshire to bring the early years story books to life through writing and illustrations.

It’s hoped that thanks to these links, and recognition from bodies like UNICEF and Equality and Human Rights UK, the resources will be adopted in Mexico and other parts of the world too.

Chrissy Meleady MBE, Chair of the Sheffield Children’s Centre Advisory Support Group, said: “Through the centre’s outreach work with children and families and services across South Yorkshire, we found that fire safety and home safety resources for early years children and their families lacked real world emphasis.

“The key safe messages were not being fostered as well as they should be for the sake of children and families, and nor were they aligned to meet regulatory requirements. We are pleased that the Centre’s innovative approach to tackling this issue has been recognised nationally and believe this collaborative work will make a real impact in improving the quality of fire safety education worldwide.”

Head of prevention and protection Steve Helps, said: “This project is a perfect example of how a relatively small funding award can quickly snowball into something which has the potential to improve the quality and range of safety education to youngsters worldwide.

“What makes the scheme truly unique is that it’s children themselves- whether here in South Yorkshire or further afield- who have been instrumental in creating resources which are appropriate for young people and their families.”

The first round Safer Sustainable 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.

Thousands of South Yorkshire’s most vulnerable people will be made safer thanks to a £700,000 fire funding windfall.

Nineteen charities, community groups and health partners have been awarded money under the second round of South Yorkshire Fire Authority’s Safer Stronger Communities Reserve fund.

The scheme, now in its second year, is the only fire service backed grant scheme of its kind anywhere in the country.

Sixty-four bids were received for the fund which had been set aside from the Authority’s reserves, before these were whittled down to the final shortlist.

Key objectives for successful bids included prioritising the most vulnerable people in society and projects which combined fire safety with improving people’s health and wellbeing. Groups could bid for a maximum of £150,000.

Highlights of the successful bids include:

• A 12 week personal development programme at Barnsley fire station for 16 to 25 year olds who are not currently in education, employment or training
• A ‘fire buddies’ scheme which will recruit and train volunteers to visit the homes of isolated older people in some of Sheffield’s poorest neighbourhoods
• Pop-up safety stations to provide fire and personal safety information for people in Edlington, Doncaster
• A Rotherham-based project to develop road safety education materials suitable for people with autism and learning disabilities

Fire Authority Chair Cllr Jim Andrews, said: “By giving these grants to well researched, well planned projects to support our work in some of South Yorkshire’s most vulnerable neighbourhoods we are, in effect, fire proofing the county.

“The first year of funding highlighted how even a small amount of financial support from the Fire Authority can enable local communities to make a real difference in improving fire safety.

“This year, the fund was once more heavily over-subscribed so 19 projects the Authority has decided to award funding to really are the best of the best.”

Deputy Chief Fire Officer John Roberts, said: “Fires have been falling steadily in South Yorkshire for many years and the county is safer now than it has been at any time in its history. But for as long as people continue to suffer the devastating effects of fires, there will always be more work to do.

“The best way for us to further reduce emergency incidents is to work with partners like those which have applied for support from this grant scheme. It’s these organisations which can help us reach the most vulnerable people in our communities.

“A particular focus for us in coming years is the wider positive impact the fire and rescue service can make in our communities, particularly in terms of improving people’s health and wellbeing. Many of the schemes we’ve awarded funding to reflect this aspiration.”

ENDS

The lives of people with learning disabilities and autism have been made safer thanks to a nationally significant fire service funded education project.

The scheme, believed to be the only one of its kind in the country, has seen people with a range of learning disabilities or autism play a leading role in developing a fire safety workbook, DVD and other educational resources suitable for one of the most excluded, vulnerable groups in society.

The project aims to help people with learning disabilities and autism to live more independent lives, by improving their understanding of issues like kitchen fire safety, escape routes and what to do in an emergency.

With the education resources created, the charity has now recruited and trained ‘fire safety champions’, to share the information and advice with other vulnerable people in South Yorkshire.

It’s the first time Rotherham-based charity Speakup Self Advocacy has worked with a fire and rescue service, following a £58,000 grant from South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Authority’s Stronger Safer Communities Reserve.

The organisation has been working with Government departments and national organisations for 28 years to develop information and training, which is suitable for people with learning disabilities and/or autism.

Speakup’s Geoff Doncaster, said: “Traditionally public services issue a lot of well meaning advice and information to vulnerable groups, whilst failing to recognise that a lot of people with learning disabilities have either no reading skills or struggle greatly with written information. Also, people with autism may need information given to them in a slightly different way, for example on video. What this funding inspired us to do was give people the tools to create resources which will make a genuine impact in terms of protecting their peer groups from the dangers of fire.”

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue vulnerable persons advocate Dianne Fox, said: “There’s a definite gap currently in the quality of information public services offer to people with autism and learning disabilities. By working with an organisation which specializes in delivering education and information to these vulnerable groups, we think we have been able to develop a suite of resources which is truly groundbreaking for a UK fire and rescue service.”

Dozens of registered charities, community organisations and partner agencies came forward to apply for grants from the first round of the £2 million the Stronger Safer Communities Reserve fund, which had been set aside from the Authority’s reserves.

For more information or to view the resources, visit www.speakup.org.uk/fire