South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue staff members are celebrating a double award win at the Cutlers’ Company Police and Fire Service annual awards in recognition of their exemplary service.

Station Manager Thomas Hirst received the fire service individual award for his work in providing crews across the brigade with basic sign language training.

The training, developed in partnership with the Communication Specialist College Doncaster, provided crews with basic British Sign Language (BSL) in order to improve their communication skills when attending incidents in their local communities.

To put their new skills to the test, crews also took part in a realistic fire exercise based in the residential facilities at the college. Students played a part in the scenario which saw firefighters having to communicate using BSL in order to direct students safely of out the building.

The training was so popular that Tom also developed an e-learning package so that more firefighters could learn basic sign to be used at an incident.

The service’s training school administration team were recognised for their work in supporting a number of teams within the service in delivering vital projects and continually going above and beyond their day-to-day roles.

The team recently offered support and advice to wholetime firefighter recruits and in the last 14 -16 months have helped, assisted and supported upwards of 40 new trainees.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Alex Johnson said: “These awards are the best possible example of how we continually strive to be the best at everything we do. They are a fantastic achievement for the fire service and provide well deserved recognition for the hard and varied work our staff do on a daily basis to keep the public of South Yorkshire safe.”

The awards, which took place in the Cutlers’ Hall, Sheffield, were presented by the Master Cutler, Nicholas Cragg.