A young person from Barnsley taking part in a fire service development scheme has been praised by paramedics for coming to the aid of an older person.

Harry Prew arrived late for a session at Barnsley fire station as part of South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue’s Prince’s Trust Team Programme.

It was only later that it was revealed he’d discovered an older man in a ditch. He called the emergency services- waiting with the man and making him comfortable until the ambulance service arrived on the scene.

Paramedics later dropped in to personally thank Harry for the caring attitude he showed.

Prince’s Trust Team Leader John Daley, said: “Harry has been very modest about his actions, but he displayed great professionalism and compassion and is another example of the amazing potential in all young people.”

Team Programme is a 12-week personal development course for unemployed 16 to 25 year olds, offering work experience, qualifications, practical skills and community projects.

Individuals will gain new skills and qualifications, mix with new people and make new friends, get help with job-hunting and CV writing and most importantly a big boost to their confidence and a real sense of achievement.

To sign-up to the next programme starting in May, email princestrust@syfire.gov.uk.

The fire service’s governing Fire Authority has decided to increase its portion of Council Tax by £5 next year, at its budget setting meeting today (Monday 20 February)

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue faces a multi-million pound deficit in the coming years as a result of increased costs of goods, services, fuel and energy- plus the impact of nationally negotiated wage increases for its staff.

Householders in Band D currently pay £77.58 per year for their Fire and Rescue Service, which will now rise to £82.58 per year from April- an increase of less than 10p per week.

The service has previously outlined the financial risks it faces in its medium term financial plan. It will be making a commitment to find new savings in an efficiencies plan to be published next month.

A £5 precept rise adds about £1.8million to the service’s annual budget of around £60 million.

However, rising utility prices and forecast wage increases are likely to add at least £4 million to the service’s annual expenditure.

Fire Authority Members made their decision on Council Tax at the fire and rescue authority meeting on Monday 20 February.

The fire service’s governing Fire Authority will decide whether to increase its portion of Council Tax by £5 next year, at its budget setting meeting later this month.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue faces a multi-million pound deficit in the coming years as a result of increased costs of goods, services, fuel and energy- plus the impact of nationally negotiated wage increases for its staff.

Householders in Band D currently pay £77.58 per year for their Fire and Rescue Service, which would rise to £82.58 per year if the rise is approved- an increase of less than 10p per week.

The service has previously outlined the financial risks it faces in its medium term financial plan. It will be making a commitment to find new savings in an efficiencies plan to be published next month.

A £5 precept rise would add about £1.8million to the service’s annual budget of around £60 million.

However, rising utility prices and forecast wage increases are likely to add at least £4 million to the service’s annual expenditure.

Fire Authority Members will make their decision on Council Tax at the fire and rescue authority meeting on Monday 20 February.

A Sheffield apartment block has had a prohibition notice lifted, after work to address serious fire safety concerns was completed.

Fire safety inspecting officers from South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue served a prohibition notice on Wicker Riverside in December because previously identified issues with the building had not been resolved.

The notice had been due to come into force on 31 January- but work undertaken by the responsible persons to address the issues means it has now been lifted. Residents previously evacuated from floors six to 10 of the building have also been allowed to return.

SYFR Assistant Chief Fire Officer Andy Strelczenie, said: “Prohibiting the use of a building in this way is always a last resort and we are sorry for the disruption and distress this has caused to all those living there. Ultimately though, people’s safety must come first.

“We are reassured by the efforts taken by the responsible persons to resolve matters within the building. The remedial work completed is the minimum required to keep people safe and we will continue to engage with the responsible persons to ensure the remaining issues with the building are effectively resolved.”

The fire service originally served an enforcement notice on Wicker Riverside in December 2020 and continued to engage with the responsible persons since then to ensure the safety issues identified by inspectors were resolved.

SYFR is responsible for enforcing fire safety laws in South Yorkshire. It employs fire safety inspecting officers who carry out fire safety audits. If the inspecting officer identifies any fire safety deficiencies, they have a range of options available to them- including issuing a prohibition notice.

A prohibition notice is a legal notice. Where there is a serious and imminent risk to life fire safety inspecting officers can prohibit or restrict the use of premises. If the premises continues to be used against the prohibition notice, then anyone failing to comply with the notice may be prosecuted.

South Yorkshire’s fire service says it is has already taken significant steps to improve its service, following publication of a national inspection report

The report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate for Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) identified several areas for improvement- as well as many areas of good practice.

Inspectors said the service is ‘good’ at looking after its people, but needs to improve under the ‘effectiveness’ and ‘efficiency’ inspection categories. The service is rated as ‘good’ in seven out of 11 sub-categories.

Chief Fire Officer Chris Kirby, said: “The report highlights many areas of good practice across the service and we are proud of these positive findings. We are particularly proud to be rated ‘good’ for People- with those we employ our most important and valued asset.

“However, we acknowledge there are also areas for improvement and we will use this report to drive further improvements to our service for the people of South Yorkshire.

“We’ve already addressed several of the areas identified in the report and believe we have made significant improvement since the inspection team visited us last summer.”

Improvements South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue has made since the inspection team visited, include recruiting more on-call firefighters, beginning to overhaul its Occupational Health Unit and delivering more work to implement nationally developed guidance for firefighters.

The report follows an inspection by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) in summer 2022.

It is the second time South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue has been inspected since HMICFRS extended its remit to include inspections of fire and rescue services in 2017.

The inspectorates assesses and reports on the efficiency, effectiveness and people management qualities of the 45 fire and rescue services in England. Services are rated either ‘inadequate’, ‘requires improvement’, ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ under each of these.

The planned prohibition of the use of an apartment block in Sheffield is still expected to proceed as planned, due to serious fire safety concerns.

Fire safety inspecting officers from South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue served a prohibition notice on Wicker Riverside on 5 December because previously identified issues with the building had not been resolved and interim measures which had been in place can no longer be considered interim.

The notice comes into force on 31 January- which coincides with the expiry date of a previously served enforcement notice and allows time for residents to find alternative accommodation.

SYFR Assistant Chief Fire Officer Andy Strelczenie, said: “Prohibiting the use of a building in this way is always a last resort, particularly when it will cause so much disruption to those living there. Ultimately though, the safety of the residents must come first. Our hearts go out to all those affected by this horrendous situation, but we simply cannot allow this unsafe situation to continue.

“We’ll continue to work closely with the responsible persons to ensure the matters within the building can be resolved. Responsible persons are now making efforts to remediate issues within the building as quickly as possible and the prohibition notice will be removed as soon as we believe it is safe to do so. But as things stand, we fully expect the notice to come into force on 31 January.

“Alongside Sheffield City Council, we’ve been meeting with residents regularly to help explain what the notice means and to support them in finding alternative accommodation.”

The fire service originally served an enforcement notice on Wicker Riverside in December 2020 and has continued to engage with the responsible persons since then to ensure the safety issues identified by inspectors were resolved- but this has not happened within the timescales set out in the notices.

The issues with the building include its internal fire compartmentation- things designed to stop a fire from spreading throughout a building- and the external cladding.

SYFR is responsible for enforcing fire safety laws in South Yorkshire. It employs fire safety inspecting officers who carry out fire safety audits. If the inspecting officer identifies any fire safety deficiencies, they have a range of options available to them- including issuing a prohibition notice.

A prohibition notice is a legal notice. Where there is a serious and imminent risk to life fire safety inspecting officers can prohibit or restrict the use of premises. If the premises continues to be used against the prohibition notice, then anyone failing to comply with the notice may be prosecuted.

We’re aware of the ongoing gas supply incident in parts of Stannington and Hillsborough.

Whilst agencies work together to resolve this issue, fire service staff will be visiting the area to provide safety advice to local people.

If you’ve lost your gas supply, please:

• Be careful not to overload electrical sockets– we know people may be using more electrical items to cook or heat their homes, but most extension leads and adapters can only take a maximum of 13 amps
• Take care with electric heaters– keep them away from soft furnishings and don’t use them to dry clothes, as this is a common cause of fires
• Beware of unsafe heating practices– things like candles and camp stoves are not safe for heating your home and are another common cause of fire

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue has responded to the Independent Cultural Review of London Fire Brigade.

Chief Fire Officer Chris Kirby, said: “The report makes difficult reading for anyone working in the fire and rescue service. It shouldn’t need saying- but there is absolutely no place for the negative behaviour and attitudes described in the report in any modern workplace, let alone the fire and rescue service.

“We have clear policies in place on bullying, harassment and discrimination and regularly work with staff networks and representative bodies to improve these. We also have a well-established set of staff behaviours which we expect all our people to follow.

“But we must never be complacent. That’s why we will be reviewing the report and its recommendations in detail and looking to implement improvements to our own service where appropriate. We aspire to be a great place to work where everyone can be themselves and will be using the findings of this report to further support our work towards this.”

A proposal to rebuild Elm Lane fire station is to be discussed by Fire Authority members.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue plans to replace the existing facility with a new building on the same site, in a construction project which could become a UK first.

The new ‘modular’ fire station would be constructed off-site in a move which could save both time and money.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer Tony Carlin, said: “These plans form part of an ambitious programme to refurbish our property estate- giving our firefighters modern, safe and energy efficient fire stations in which to live and work. Modular construction methods have come on massively in recent years and we are excited to explore the potential for this new way of building fire stations to improve the efficiency of such projects.”

The current fire station on Elm Lane, Sheffield Lane Top was built in 1976, but is nearing the end of its operational life. Refurbishing the existing facility has been ruled out, due to the high cost of removing large amounts of suspected asbestos.

The project to rebuild the station will be discussed by South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Authority members at their meeting on Monday (10 October).

The project is in the pre-planning phase, with any confirmed plans subject to the usual planning application process and consultation with local residents.