Edlington fire station is looking to recruit new members to its fire cadet team.

The cadets train at the station once a week, learning firefighting skills and techniques from specially qualified instructors.

Cadets also enrol on to the Routes 4 U education package, which covers the employability skills needed to work within the health and emergency services. Youngsters work towards a recognised qualification at the end of a 12 month course.

Fire Cadets also play a key role at community events, and attend team-building days throughout the year.

Recruits can be aged 13 to 17. The cadets meet every Wednesday from 6.00pm to 8.30pm.

Edlington Fire Cadet Branch Manager Daryl Aitken said: “We’re looking for enthusiastic and motivated youngsters who are eager to work with our fire cadet instructors to learn new skills, and support the fire service’s work in the local community. This is a fantastic opportunity to gain first-hand experience of fire station life and to work closely with local firefighters.”

For more information, contact email yffedlington@syfire.gov.uk

Hundreds of South Yorkshire youngsters are being given vital life skills thanks to a unique partnership between the fire service and a Doncaster training provider.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue works with Engage Doncaster, an apprenticeships and training agency, to deliver learning sessions to young people who are not currently in education, employment or training.

Sessions are delivered to youngsters aged 14 to 19 around road safety, fire prevention and the consequences of anti-social behaviour and arson.

The aim is to help young people make positive life choices, ultimately giving them the best chance to succeed in their chosen careers.

SYFR Community Safety Team Leader Amanda Thompson, said: “The feedback from both the training provider and the youngsters themselves on the sessions we have delivered has been overwhelmingly positive. Partnerships like this one show how the work of the fire service goes far beyond putting out fires or rescuing people from emergencies.

“We can have a positive impact on our communities in lots of other ways, and by engaging with young people in this way we can improve their life chances as well as building lasting, positive relationships which will hopefully reduce emergency incidents in the future.”

Tillie Silman, a youngster from Engage said; “I really enjoyed it when the fire service came in, it was a very interesting experience. I have learnt a lot about how to deal with certain situations and not to prank call as this could put someone’s life in danger.

“The best part of the course for me was learning about the impact of not wearing a seat belt. It has made me realise the importance of always wearing one even sat in the back of the car. This could cause someone in the front seats serious injuries event if they are wearing seat belts.”

Students have been putting their landscape gardening skills to the test by updating a community garden as part of their Prince’s Trust project.

The students, from Outwood Academy have been re-planting the community garden at Adwick fire station. They have planned the layout of the garden with assistance from Doncaster Council staff, who also provided many of the materials. Paths and borders which have lain overgrown and unused have been re-instated, flowers have been planted and the grass has been cut to provide a wildlife haven.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue (SYFR) are supporting Outwood Academy through the Safer Stronger Communities Reserve fund to run an engagement course for young people in conjunction with the Prince’s Trust.

The programme runs one day a week throughout the school year, targeting 15 students at risk of under achievement or exclusion. Students gain qualifications in personal development and employability skills, with modules covering teamwork, presentation skills, community work and group planning.

The Prince’s Trust XL Club is a nationally recognised programme having helped over 70,000 young people since 1998.

Arson Intervention Officer Andy Kirwan said; “The group has been working at Adwick station since September and have recently chosen the garden as a project. The kids have worked really well, with the support and supervision of the Doncaster Council team”.

PC David High who runs the scheme said, “The project has had a positive and direct impact on the attainment and behaviour of the pupils involved with support from South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, Doncaster council and the local SNT. Fire service staff have delivered sessions on the consequences of fire setting, road traffic collisions and engaged with young people from the area who may have previously been involved with anti social behaviour”.

A firefighter has spent the past seven months working with pupils at a Sheffield academy to have a positive impact on their learning and behaviour.

Retired firefighter Ian Foster spends one day a week at Springs Academy helping teachers and providing a positive role model to pupils.

Ian recently retired as a firefighter and continues to work for South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue on community and youth engagement. He was tasked with working with the youngsters at the school to help educate them about road safety and the dangers of arson in an informal and relaxed way.

Consisting of around eight pupils from years 9 and 10, their day is structured around practical activities and safety workshops. These include planning, constructing and marketing items which they make in school to sell, such as wooden bird nesting boxes and bird feeding tables, as well as discussion sessions around fire and road safety. They have also been involved in gardening and have planted a variety of different vegetables at their site.

The youngsters also take part in external activities, including visits to fire stations and the National Emergency Services Museum, as well as undertaking different team building exercises.

This School Liaison Officer role that Ian performs was devised by South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue as it drives down the amount of small, deliberate fires.

The fire service hopes more schools will now see the benefits of having a uniformed presence working with their pupils.

Ian Foster said: “We are fortunate that firefighters have a really positive image within the community and the impact of having that uniformed role model in school for just a few hours a week can be vast.

“Our work educating young people about fires and road safety has helped to reduce incidents massively over the last few years, but we’re pleased the academy can see the benefits of this project which go far beyond our traditional role.”

Michael Goldenburgh at Springs Academy said; “Ian, our School Liaison Officer, is great with our students, he attends on a regular basis and all the students now expect to see him every week. They look forward to his time with them in school and in particular the practical exercises and activities in the afternoon. He is an excellent role model for our students and most of them are benefiting from the skills and knowledge he delivers.”

A Sheffield firefighter has donated £1,000 to charity after winning the money in a competition.

Crew Manager Paul Wood from white watch on Central station in Sheffield, won the money last year while attending the national fire service Breathing Apparatus (BA) Challenge, where he took part in the guess the name of the bear competition, which to Paul’s surprise he won.

He decided to donate the full £1,000 prize money between two charities, The Children’s Hospital Charity for the Burns Unit and The Fire Fighters Charity, getting £500 each.

Paul has this week presented his cheques to each of the charities.

Paul said; “I couldn’t believe my luck when I was told I had won, it was such a surprise. I knew straight away though that I wanted to donate the money to charity. The Fire Fighters Charity was the obvious choice, having been a firefighter for the past 19 years. I also chose The Children’s Hospital Charity as I wanted to help a local charity and having two children of my own I felt it was a very worthy cause.”

Judith Oliver, the Fire Fighters Charity fundraiser in Yorkshire, said; “We can’t thank Paul enough. Working with members of the fire and rescue services is always a pleasure as they are such generous and community-minded people”.

The Children’s Hospital Charity’s director, David Vernon-Edwards, said: “This is an incredible donation, which comes at a critical time in our hospital transformation as we strive to fundraise for a brand new wing at The Children’s Hospital in Sheffield. As part of our Make it Better appeal, we urgently need funds to bring world-class facilities to the already world-class hospital, so Paul’s amazing support means we are a step closer to that.”

Older people at sheltered accommodation in Barnsley are to benefit from the installation of new fire safety measures, thanks to a fire service funded initiative.

Churchfields Sheltered housing, part of Berneslai Homes, has been awarded funding for the retrofitting of automatic fire sprinklers. The project will greatly improve the safety of the people living in the building.

Fire sprinklers can have a massive impact on the effects of a fire including saving lives, reducing injury, protecting firefighters who attend the incidents and reducing the amount of damage to both property and the environment from fire.

The project won £49,500 from the South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Authority’s funding scheme, the Stronger Safer Communities Reserve.

The fund 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.

Roger Brason, Sprinkler Advocate at South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue said, “Automatic fire sprinklers are most effective during the initial stage of a fire occurring, as a properly installed sprinkler will detect the flames heat, initiate an alarm, and activate just moments after the flames appear and can quickly suppress a fire before it gets out of control”

Berneslai Homes Community Buildings Manager Jill Barker said, “We were delighted to hear that we had been awarded funding towards fitting a sprinkler system in one of our sheltered housing schemes. They are an excellent way of protecting both people and buildings from the effects of a fire.”

Young people in Rotherham have passed out with flying colours, after completing a rigorous fire station course aimed at reducing anti-social behaviour in the borough.

The youngsters, aged 13-17, took part in a Achieving Respect and Confidence (ARC) course, a joint initiative between South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, Rotherham Council and other partner agencies including South Yorkshire Police.

The project’s aim is to highlight the consequences of anti-social behaviour and provide an intensive multi-agency work experience course, instilling discipline, team spirit, fire safety awareness, life skills and values which will improve the life chances of the young people involved.

The course is aimed at young people who have offended, are at risk of offending or have been victims of crime.

Activities included a self-defence class and fire drills run by firefighters at Rotherham fire station, which hosted the week long course and the young people were supported by staff from Integrated Youth Support Services to enable them to attend and complete. Youngsters were also visited by serving prisoners, to talk to them about the potential consequences of crime and anti-social behaviour.

The passing out parade which marked the end of the project was held in front of the youngster’s family members and dignitaries including the Mayor of Rotherham, John Foden.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue’s youth engagement officer Keith Watts, said: “The input from the other agencies has been critical in encouraging these young people to think about their behaviour and through discipline and teamwork, make positive choices towards improving their life chances.

“We’ve been running courses like this successfully for several years now and their effectiveness is borne out through a steady reduction in the number of anti-social behaviour related fires our crews are having to attend.”