South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue
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Service on song with dementia charity Lost Chord

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue is celebrating a new partnership with dementia charity Lost Chord that will see fire safety messages incorporated into music making sessions.

The national charity, which supports over 10,000 people annually across the UK and has roots in South Yorkshire, has been transforming the lives of people with dementia and other neurological conditions through the power of interactive music for 25 years.

Its regular Tea and Tunes sessions at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre became a vital lifeline for many living with dementia and their carers, along with isolated people from across the city, creating a place where they could feel connected, supported, and alive through the universal language of music.

In the face of venue and refreshment costs, however, Lost Chord UK was forced to make the difficult decision to relocate Tea and Tunes.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue offered the use of its Handsworth-based training and development centre in Sheffield free of charge, ensuring the sessions will continue in a safe, accessible environment.

But the partnership goes beyond just providing a venue because Lost Chord UK and SYFR have now developed the idea of a Community Chorus, an initiative that will use music not only to engage but to educate.

By incorporating important fire safety messages into the sessions, the aim is to engage attendees in a fun and interactive way that could ultimately save lives.

Jean Collingwood, CEO of Lost Chord said: “We believe this truly exciting collaboration is the first of its kind in the UK.

“By partnering with SYFR, we can combine our expertise in music with their community safety goals, creating a truly innovative project that serves both the hearts and minds of Sheffield’s residents.”

Toni Tranter, partnership manager at South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue said: “I’m delighted that we’ve been able to partner with Lost Chord on this pioneering project and it’s a real pleasure to be able to host the Community Chorus at our Training and Development Centre in Handsworth.

“We know that people living with dementia are at a greater risk of suffering a fire due to their condition so to be able to share important safety messages through the power of music is a fantastic opportunity for us and aligns with our mission to create safer and stronger communities.”

The Community Chorus sessions, which are free, dementia-friendly and open to everyone begin on Monday October 28, with two further sessions planned for Friday November 15 and Monday December 9, all from 1 to 2pm at the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Training and Development Centre, Beaver Hill Road, Handsworth, Sheffield, S13 9QA.

Lost Chord UK’s talented musicians, supported by the Lost Chord UK volunteers, will lead the sessions, working alongside SYFR to incorporate essential fire safety messaging into the music-making.

“Our musicians are already doing what they do best, improvising and collaborating with local people to create opportunities for them to shine,” said Jean.

“This has been a true team effort and I couldn’t be prouder of our volunteers and musicians for their tenacity and to our partners at South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue for making this partnership possible.

“For the people of Sheffield, this new initiative represents an exciting opportunity to socialise, connect with others, learn new skills, and engage with their community in a way that is both fun and potentially life-saving.”

For more details, visit the Lost Chord UK online community diary at the charity’s website www.lost-chord.org.uk

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 About Lost Chord UK 

  • Lost Chord UK is a charity that uses the transformative power of interactive music to improve the health and well-being of people living with dementia and other neurological conditions.
  • Based in South Yorkshire and celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, Lost Chord UK reaches over 10,000 people nationally each year through its innovative music sessions in care homes, nursing homes, and the wider community. Released on behalf of Lost Chord UK by John Highfield PR. For further information call 07776 180911 or email: info@johnhighfieldpr.co.uk

Firefighters launch heartfelt campaign urging people to “be there” for their older relatives

Firefighters are calling on families to check in on their loved ones as part of a new fire safety campaign.

The campaign, Be There For Them, launches with the publication of an animated video created by renowned animator and illustrator, Gary Andrews, whose portfolio includes working on hit children’s programmes such as Horrid Henry.

The heartfelt film focuses on a man reflecting on his life and relationship with his mum before it ends in tragic circumstances.

The aim of the campaign is to encourage families and caregivers to take basic steps to keep their older loved ones safe from fire – whether this be by making sure they have smoke alarms fitted and tested regularly or by carrying out an online home safety check with them on the Service’s website.

It’s in response to the latest fire statistics that show the those over 60 and living on their own are one of the groups most at risk of a serious house fire.

Chris Tyler, Group Manager in South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue’s Community Safety team, said: “This deeply moving film highlights the importance of staying connected with our older relatives, especially in our busy lives.

“One life lost in a house fire is too many – that’s why we’re proud to be launching the campaign today to encourage our communities to look out for their older relatives and help keep them safe from fire.

“A really simple way you can do this is to carry out a free online home safety check with your family through our website.”

At the end of this check, you will be provided with safety advice relevant to you. Then, if you are eligible for a visit, you will be asked to submit your contact details and we will then contact you to arrange an in-person visit.

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue supports Gas Safety Week

We are proud to be supporting Gas Safety Week 2024, taking place 9th-15th September.

Gas Safety Week is an annual safety week to raise awareness of gas safety and the importance of taking care of your gas appliances. It is coordinated by Gas Safe Register, the official list of gas engineers who are legally allowed to work on gas.

The theme for 2024 is Checking—Every Check Counts; from getting an annual gas safety check, checking your engineer is Gas Safe registered and qualified for the work, to checking that you know what to do in a gas emergency, every check (no matter how big or small) helps to keep you gas safe.

Badly fitted and poorly serviced gas appliances can cause gas leaks, fires, explosions, and carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. CO is a highly poisonous gas that can kill quickly and without warning, as you cannot see it, taste it, or smell it.

Here is a guide to some simple checks that you can do at home to stay gas safe:

  • Check you have a current landlord gas safety record. By law, your landlord must keep gas pipework, flues and appliances supplied for you to use in good condition. They must arrange a gas safety check of the appliances and flues every year and give you a record of the check within 28 days. If your landlord refuses to provide you with one, you can report their details to the HSE: https://bit.ly/LGSRReport1
  • Check any gas appliances that you own have been safety checked annually. Your landlord is not responsible for gas appliances that you own, so you should arrange for these to be safety checked once a year and serviced regularly by a Gas Safe registered engineer.
  • Check the engineer is Gas Safe registered. Anyone who comes to work on the gas appliances, pipework or flues must be Gas Safe registered and appropriately qualified for the type of gas work you need doing. You can find this information on the back of their Gas Safe ID card and on the Gas Safe Register website.
  • Check gas appliances for any warning signs. Signs may include lazy yellow/orange flames instead of crisp blue ones, black marks on or around the appliance, a pilot light that keeps going out, too much condensation in the room, or error messages on the appliance’s control panel. If you spot any of these signs contact your landlord, or, if you own the appliance, contact a Gas Safe registered engineer.
  • Check your knowledge. Remember the six main symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning: headaches, dizziness, breathlessness, nausea, collapse, and loss of consciousness. If you suspect CO, get into fresh air immediately and call the gas emergency services for your area.
  • Check the carbon monoxide alarm. A carbon monoxide alarm is required to be fitted in every habitable room of a rental property containing gas appliances (excluding appliances used for cooking purposes). They should be marked EN50291 and display the British Standards’ Kitemark. It’s a good idea to regularly test these to ensure they’re still working.
  • Check that vents or flues are not blocked. Vents and flues are there to ensure the gas appliances work safely. Blocking them could prevent this.

How to keep you business gas safe

For gas safety advice and to find or check an engineer visit the Gas Safe Register website at GasSafeRegister.co.uk. Alternatively, call the free helpline on 0800 408 5500.

Sheffield firefighters prepare for charity challenge

A team of eleven firefighters are embarking on South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue’s latest charity challenge in support of Sheffield Children’s Hospital NHS and Charity.

Lowedges Watch Manager (WM) Tom Robjohns (pictured with son Alfie) will be leading the team six miles across Sheffield as they carry a 10.5 ladder from Lowedges Fire Station to Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

WM Robjohns son, Alfie, was born in 2019 and at three weeks old contracted viral meningitis. He was rushed to the Emergency Department at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, where the nurses and doctors cared for him around the clock, ultimately saving his life.

Now five years old, Alfie has made a full recovery and is none the wiser of the ordeal his parents went through back in 2019.

It is the incredible work and care that the nurses and doctors showed Alfie that has led to WM Robjohns wanting to organise this epic ladder carry across Sheffield as part of the service’s wider fundraising for Sheffield Children’s.

Setting off from Lowedges Fire Station at 10:30am on Saturday 31 August, WM Robjohns and team will pass by:

  • 11:15 – St James retail park where a Lowedges Blue Watch with their fire engine
    will be giving fire safety advice and taking donations.
  • 12:00 – Through Woodseats
  • 13:00 – On to London Road and up St Mary’s gate.
  • 14:45 – On to Western Bank on the final stretch up to Sheffield Children’s Hospital led in convoy by a Fire Appliance from our Central Station.

(All times are approximate)

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Area Manager, John Billings, said: “Since April of this year, I’ve asked my teams across Sheffield to raise as much money as we can for Sheffield Children’s. So far we have walked to every Sheffield fire station wearing breathing apparatus and climbed the equivalent of the Yorkshire three peaks using our 32m turntable.

“This is another huge challenge set by Lowedges and I couldn’t be prouder of the team.”

The Children’s Hospital Charity’s Community Fundraising Officer, Emma Maskrey, said: ‘We are so grateful to each and every member of South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue for their support.

“The stations across the Sheffield District have shown such commitment and generosity in their campaign to fundraise for us this year. They’ve taken on some incredible challenges, with the ladder-carry at Lowedges being no exception. We’re so proud to have such a vital part of the Sheffield community supporting our charity.

“The Children’s Hospital Charity supports Sheffield Children’s to provide life changing care for children from the UK and beyond, and that is only possible thanks to the fundraising and support of organisations like South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue.

“Our team will be cheering them on and we hope that supporters from across Sheffield and beyond, can get behind their campaign and donate.”

You can donate towards this challenge here or meet WM Robjohns and team across the route outlined above on Saturday 31 August.

Top armed forces award for fire service’s gold standard support

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

SYFR has been named a Gold 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.

To win gold, employers must provide extra leave for reservists and have supportive HR policies in place for reservists, veterans, cadet volunteers and spouses and partners of those serving in the Armed Forces.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue also now has a well-established Armed Forces staff network, organises social events for the armed forces community and runs ‘have a go days’ for veterans considering a career in the fire and rescue service.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Station Manager Gary Devonport, said: “We’ve worked really hard to achieve gold status. 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 Gold award further celebrates all of the positive action we are taking in support of the Armed Forces community.”

Sheffield firms fined £4,000 for breaching fire safety regulations

Two Sheffield businesses have been ordered to pay £4,000 after each failing to provide documents and information to business fire safety inspectors.

Brightside Motors LTD and Brightside Motors Repair Centre LTD received the fine at a hearing at Sheffield Magistrates Court on Wednesday 31 July after the firms, both based on 90 Holywell Road, Sheffield, failed to comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

The Court ordered they pay a fine of £2,500, cover prosecution costs of £569 and pay a victim’s surcharge of £1,000, totalling £4,069 each.

The case was proved in absence as no representatives from either company attended the hearing.

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Business Fire Safety Inspecting Officers visited the company after a fire on the premises on 21 April 2023.

An enforcement notice was put in place after it was determined that the business had not been complying with a previously agreed fire safety plan.

The enforcement notice was also not followed which triggered an additional investigation and request for information and documentation about who is the responsible person at the property.

No documentation or information was received, resulting in court summons.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Andy Strelczenie, said: “Fire Safety is a core function of the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, our aim is always to work with businesses to ensure they can keep people safe, but it needs to be a two-way process.

“In this case, we have had little to no engagement from the company involved, despite multiple requests to improve and share information with us. This has ultimately resulted in this fine being issued.”

Firefighter calls on others to support 40 mile high peak charity trek

A South Yorkshire firefighter is taking on a 40 mile charity hike in memory of a footballer friend who died by suicide four years ago.

Paul Wood, a Station Manager at South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, will join others on the High Peak 40 Mile Challenge in September to mark what would have been friend Stuart Lumbert’s 40th birthday.

Paul hopes to inspire others to take on the mammoth walking challenge, which will raise money for Blythe House Hospice and Help For Heroes.

Paul said: “I was born in Sheffield, but moved to Buxton in 1994. When I first came to Buxton I played football with Stuart and his brother Andrew for a local football team in the Hope Valley League.

“Stuart would have been 40 this year and his brother, Andrew Lumbert, has got a group of friends and family together to complete the High Peak 40 Mile Challenge. The challenge itself had been going for a number of years but stopped after the 2016 event and has not gone ahead since then.

“Someone has taken over the organising of the event and it is happening again this year. I know mental health is a big issue – both for firefighters and the wider community- and something that many people are affected by directly and indirectly. We hope to raise awareness of this through our fundraising efforts, whilst raising lots of money for two really important causes at the same time.”

For more information about the event on Saturday 14 September visit highpeak40.co.uk or to sponsor Paul and his friends, visit their fundraising page here

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Caption: Paul Wood (left) in training with Andrew Lumbert, Stuart’s brother

Safer South Yorkshire Week

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service is launching the first ever Safer South Yorkshire Week dedicated to our
partners across South Yorkshire.

Running from July 1-5, we will be offering free virtual fire safety awareness sessions to partners existing and new, alongside our referral training.

This training is aimed at any public facing partners/charities/organisations that may want to refer their service users to the fire service for a Home Fire Safety Visit.

To book on a session please email our partnership team.

All sessions will be delivered by Microsoft Teams and last approximately one hour.

Available Sessions:

  • Monday 1st July 10am, 1pm
  • Tuesday 2nd July 10am, 11am, 1pm
  • Wednesday 3rd July 10am, 1pm, 2pm
  • Thursday 4th July 10am, 11am, 2pm
  • Friday 5th July, 10am, 1pm

Sheffield landlord sentenced after violating fire safety laws

A Sheffield man has been sentenced to six months in prison- suspended for 18 months- and 250 hours community service after admitting to violating fire safety laws.

Mr Zahir Ahmed, of Bannerdale Road, Sheffield appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on the 6 June 2024, having pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing on 9 May 2024 at Sheffield Magistrates Court to six charges of failing to comply with articles under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

Eleven people were trapped inside the building on Brookhill Road, Sheffield when fire broke at around 3.25am on 25 February 2022.

Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus located the people, staying with them until the blaze was extinguished and the property could be ventilated.

The single stair case in the property also collapsed during the incident, causing a firefighter to fall through the stairs.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Business Fire Safety Inspecting Officers found no fire alarm or emergency lighting, poor standard of fire doors and no stair case ventilation, following a post-incident investigation.

His Honour Judge Robinson concluded there must be a custodial given the seriousness of the offences, the fact they relate to two premises, to multiple breaches of the regulations and that there was a real risk of serious harm to people.

Mr Ahmed was sentenced to six months in prison on each of the offences to run concurrently. This sentence is suspended for 18 months. He will be required to complete 250 hours of unpaid work for the benefit of the community. He is ordered to pay £10,000 of prosecution costs at £1000 per month.

Handing down the sentence, His Honour Judge Robinson, said: “Mr Ahmed was wilfully not caring about the safety of individuals. There had been a dreadful fire, which resulted in a firefighter falling through the stairs. It could have been catastrophic and was in my view, a near fatal fire.”

Deputy Chief Fire Officer Andy Strelczenie, said: “Landlords and other responsible persons are responsible for preventing fires in the first instance. Should a fire then occur in a building they are responsible for, other protection measures become absolutely critical.

This fire could have had a catastrophic outcome had it not been for the highly skilled professionalism of our firefighters. Due to the lack of fire safety systems and management within this premises, it was extremely fortuitous in this instance that people did not die.”

“This sentence is a reminder to all responsible persons that we can and will prosecute people when they fail to adhere to the laws which are there to keep people safe.”

In flats of this type, a suitable fire risk assessment is expected to have been carried out which would identify the necessary fire safety measures such as fire alarms, emergency lighting, evacuation strategy and appropriate protected escape routes, which should be managed by a responsible person. SYFR works closely with businesses and landlords to ensure they comply with fire safety regulations and inspectors are available to offer practical advice and assistance in this area.

For more information on the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and keeping premises safe from fire visit the Business Safety section of the fire service website www.syfire.gov.uk

Firefighters support paramedic trainees in new 999 partnership

Emergency service bosses have hailed a new partnership which sees trainee paramedics train alongside firefighters.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue regularly welcomes Sheffield Hallam University paramedic students to training drills in a bid to expose students to realistic scenarios and build understanding between 999 responders.

Larger scale training exercises have also been set up at fire stations across South Yorkshire to help rehearse responses to incidents where firefighters and paramedics are likely to be present- including road traffic collisions, rescues from height and water incidents.

Station Manager Justin Robertson, said: “Since establishing this partnership two years ago we’ve held dozens of exercises and the learning for both firefighters and paramedics has been incredible. There’s already a great deal of respect between all the emergency services, but anything we can do to help build a better understanding of our respective roles at incidents will ultimately lead to better outcomes for the public we are here to help.”

Paramedic Senior Lecturer James Stubley, said: “The partnership with South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue has allowed our students to be exposed to a greater level of reality, extending our simulation scenarios. Collaboration with emergency service colleagues has allowed our students to gain valuable experience prior to graduating and pursuing their paramedic careers, being better informed of scene safety and capabilities of other services at these more complex incidents. This joint working at the early stage of their careers can only lead to more successful joint working and ultimately improved prehospital patient care.”

The Policing & Crime Act 2016 placed a new, statutory duty on all three emergency services to look at opportunities to work with one another better to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

In South Yorkshire, the fire and police services share a Joint Community Safety Department, shared fleet management and vehicle workshops and have a joint fire and police station in Maltby. The ambulance service also has access to welfare facilities at several fire stations across the country.

All three emergency services also work together on dozens of other opportunities for joint working throughout the year- from training to staff network events.

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