Amongst the issues we want your views on is our expected response times for different types of incident, which have been published in the draft plan.
We will still aim to attend every single 999 call as quickly as we possibly can, but that having a set of published response times will make us more accountable to local people, help us to improve our service and bring us in line with most other services around the country.
Currently we simply aim to get to all emergencies as fast as we can, every time. A national inspection reported that it was undesirable for the service not to have a set of response standards.
The proposed new response time arrangements take into account whether a person’s life is at risk, as well as the level of risk in different parts of the county based on historical incident data and other information.
The results of the consultation will be considered before a final version of the Integrated Risk Management Plan 2021-24 is presented to the Fire Authority in January.
Fire officers in Sheffield are asking local students not to cook whilst drunk this winter and, instead, help keep fire engines free for more serious emergencies.
The plea follows the Government’s recent announcement that pubs must now close at 10pm, which firefighters feel could prompt an increase in home drinking, cooking and parties.
They say that this, in turn, could lead to an increase in call outs to student accommodation across the city – something South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue is keen to prevent.
“We absolutely recognise how important it is that students enjoy their time at university, especially with what’s going on in the world right now, but we want to make sure they do it safely,” said Station Manager John Billings, who heads up the team at Central fire station.
“Something we’re very mindful of is that, with pubs now closing earlier to help stop the spread of COVID-19, students may be inclined to take the party back to their accommodation. We’ve no problem with this.
“Where we may have a problem, however, is if people start to act carelessly. From our perspective this can be extremely dangerous. Time and time again we are called to fires which have started when people have left the oven on and forgotten, or fallen asleep, due to alcohol or drugs.
“We’ve also attended lots of false alarms in the past where students have set fire alarms off for fun, or e-cigarettes and smoking have triggered smoke detection systems. Alcohol has been known to play a part in many of these cases, too.”
In order to reduce the risk to students, and to prevent an increase in calls, the service is asking them to do three things:
Get a takeaway rather than cooking drunk
Be mindful of smoke alarms when vaping or smoking
Do not use fire alarm call points unless there is a genuine emergency
These requests, which officers feel are reasonable, come ahead of a national Student Safety Week in October that SYFR has pledged to support.
“We think what we’re asking is fair and simple – we’re not trying to spoil anyone’s fun and don’t believe what we’re asking will have a huge impact on any big nights in,” added John.
“What it will do, though, is keep people safe, prevent our crews having to crash any parties and stop accommodation from being damaged or destroyed by fire.”
South Yorkshire’s fire service presented its latest plans for keeping local people safe next week – including proposals for how quickly it should respond to different types of emergency.
South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue says it will still aim to attend every single 999 call as quickly as it possibly can, but that having a set of published response times will make it more accountable to local people, help it to improve its service and bring them in line with most other services around the country.
Currently the service simply aims to get to all emergencies as fast as it can, every time. A national inspection reported that it was undesirable for the service not to have a set of response standards.
The proposed new response time arrangements will take into account whether a person’s life is at risk, as well as the level of risk in different parts of the county based on historical incident data and other information.
Deputy Chief Fire Officer Chris Kirby said: “Adopting a more risk based approach allows us to ensure we are placing resources in the right places at the right time to best protect the communities we serve. This includes the work we do around preventing fires, protecting buildings and responding to incidents when they do occur.
“We will still aim to get to each emergency as fast as we can, but having a set of response times means we can measure our performance to ensure we are delivering the best possible service to our communities with the resources we have available to us.”
The response time proposals follow initial consultation with more than 3,000 local people and a thorough analysis of the different risks faced by the fire service in South Yorkshire.
They form part of the service’s latest draft ‘Integrated Risk Management Plan’. This is a plan which explains the different risks in South Yorkshire how the fire service intends to address them with the resources it has available.
A Sheffield man is attempting to ‘run’ between Calais and London in a bid to raise cash and awareness for refugees.
Steve Kay, aged 36, has already clocked up 50 miles in his 108 miles mission to support the British Red Cross, which offers support, food and hygiene to refugees and people seeking asylum.
Steve, who works in the ICT team at South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, said: “2020 has been a tough year for many people across the world, but most of these hardships are a drop in the ocean compared to the horrors that refugees face in search of a better life for themselves and their families. Many refugees are forced to flee war-torn countries and are left with nothing, and the British Red Cross offer a vital lifeline in the form of supplies, communication and transport that serves to help them start a new life.”
Steve aims to have reached his mileage target- which matches the distance between Calais and London- by the end of September.
He’s already raised more than £400 for the British Red Cross, which aims to help people in crisis whoever and wherever they are.
South Yorkshire’s fire service will present its latest plans for keeping local people safe next week – including proposals for how quickly it should respond to different types of emergency.
South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue says it will still aim to attend every single 999 call as quickly as it possibly can, but that having a set of published response times will make it more accountable to local people, help it to improve its service and bring them in line with most other services around the country.
Currently the service simply aims to get to all emergencies as fast as it can, every time. A national inspection reported that it was undesirable for the service not to have a set of response standards.
The proposed new response time arrangements will take into account whether a person’s life is at risk, as well as the level of risk in different parts of the county based on historical incident data and other information.
Deputy Chief Fire Officer Chris Kirby said: “Adopting a more risk based approach allows us to ensure we are placing resources in the right places at the right time to best protect the communities we serve. This includes the work we do around preventing fires, protecting buildings and responding to incidents when they do occur.
“We will still aim to get to each emergency as fast as we can, but having a set of response times means we can measure our performance to ensure we are delivering the best possible service to our communities with the resources we have available to us.”
The response time proposals follow initial consultation with more than 3,000 local people and a thorough analysis of the different risks faced by the fire service in South Yorkshire.
They form part of the service’s latest draft ‘Integrated Risk Management Plan’. This is a plan which explains the different risks in South Yorkshire how the fire service intends to address them with the resources it has available.
Six fire stations across South Yorkshire are recruiting now for on-call firefighters, with anyone interested urged to act quickly before the current recruitment window closes.
New recruits are needed at Penistone, Stocksbridge, Askern, Rossington, Birley and Dearne to help crews there respond to emergency calls and carry out important prevention work.
Anyone interested is urged to register their interest on the service’s website, here. Information about the next steps will then be sent out in due course.
On-call firefighters are local people who live or work within five minutes of their stations. They carry a pager when they are on-duty that alerts them when they are needed.
“The role our on-call firefighters play is vital – these are extraordinary people who drop everything when needed to attend emergency incidents in their local areas,” said SYFR Station Manager, Chris Tyler.
“They are given the same training as our full-time firefighters and, rightly, get exactly the same buzz, camaraderie and kudos that comes with such an important job.
“Our recruitment window will close at the end of September so I’d encourage anyone who wants to test themselves and fulfil this common childhood dream to act now.
“That especially includes anyone who is unsure whether this is the job for them. These are flexible roles and we will support people who have the right attitude and commitment.”
On-call staff are paid an annual ‘retainer’ fee and then get paid for each incident they attend. They are also paid for any community work they carry out and weekly training on station.
The flexible and adaptable nature of on-call firefighting means that it can be done on top of other full-time work, study or family commitments.
More information on the role can be found here. Alternatively, www.oncallfire.uk provides more detail about the major, national on-call recruitment drive that was launched last year.
Amongst the questions it wants people’s views on are the expected response times it should set for different incidents.
The consultation will also ask people for their views on the quality of service and value for money SYFR provides taxpayers, and what people think its priorities should be over the next few years.
The results of the consultation will help to inform the service’s next Integrated Risk Management Plan. This is a plan which considers the different risks in South Yorkshire and how the fire service intends to address them with the resources it has available.
A draft plan will be submitted to the service’s governing Fire Authority in September, before further consultation with the public.
The plan is not expected to propose any cuts to firefighters, fire engines or fire stations.
The best way for people to have their say is by visiting www.syfire.gov.uk
Firefighters across South Yorkshire are urging the county’s residents to sign up to their free smoke alarm reminder service – www.pressthebutton.co.uk – as part of a new campaign.
They are backed by Rachael Shaw, a mum from Sheffield who had her home in Parsons Cross destroyed by fire earlier this year.
Rachael, her partner and daughter were in bed one night in April when working smoke alarms alerted them to an electrical fire in the living room below.
The fire had developed quickly and thick smoke prevented them from escaping – meaning they had to be rescued from a bedroom window by firefighting crews.
And now, with their house still in ruins, they are living proof that, as South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue (SYFR) regularly reminds people, smoke alarms save lives.
“Luckily we heard the smoke alarm and smelt the smoke. If it wasn’t for the smoke alarm, realistically we wouldn’t have known. It never crossed my mind that the house was on fire.
“Smoke alarms… I never thought they were that important and now they’ve literally saved our lives.”
Speaking of the service’s new campaign, Yesterday You Said Tomorrow, officers say they’re hoping they can motivate people to stop procrastinating and ensure they have alarms in place.
Latest figures released by SYFR show that out of the 486 accidental dwelling fires crews dealt with last year, 102 of the homes attended didn’t have any smoke alarms.
A deeper look at incident data then shows that in the 384 cases where smoke alarms were present, not all of them sounded – either due to them not working or not being positioned correctly.
This makes 238 instances in 2019 where smoke alarms either weren’t present or didn’t sound – this is 49 percent of the 486 houses fires attended by firefighters.
“We’ve spent over a decade now asking people to ensure they have working smoke alarms, and test them regularly,” said Group Manager Matt Gillatt, deputy head of the police and fire community safety team.
“Lots of people have and we’re truly grateful to them but, as these figures show, at almost half of the fires we attended last year there were either no smoke alarms, or the ones present didn’t work as they should.
“Our ask is really clear – we want people to ensure they have working smoke alarms on every level of their home. Then, we want them to make a habit of testing them weekly.
“We offer a free weekly reminder service that people can sign up to and for anybody that needs extra support, we offer home safety checks that can be booked through our website.
“The incident involving Rachael and her family is a really clear example of how important smoke alarms can be – get them, fit them, test them.”
Work has started this week on a brand new, energy efficient station for firefighters in Barnsley.
The existing 60-year-old, three-storey building on Broadway, Kingstone is being demolished after it had reached the end of its operational life. It’s being replaced with a new two storey, three bay facility on the same site.
A separate multi-use facility is planned to be built on the same site, which will host the service’s award-winning Princes Trust Team Programme initiative as well as providing space to hold events and meetings and bookings from community groups.
Energy saving measures will include low energy, LED lighting with motion sensors.
Firefighters will be housed in a temporary facility off-site whilst construction of the new building takes place.
The investment follows a study last year which looked at all options including a multi-million pound refurbishment which wasn’t deemed viable.
It also forms part of a wider, short to medium term approved plan to invest in the fire service’s property estate, with around a further £8 million set aside from its reserves to modernise and improve its estate over the next two years.
The investments are being made now, because of uncertainty of how much money will be available to make substantial investments like this in the future if the service’s finances continue to be squeezed.
Director of Support Services Stuart Booth, said: “One of our aspirations is to make the service a great place to work. Part of achieving that means investing in the buildings and facilities our staff use every day and we’re pleased to be making real and tangible progress towards this. We considered refurbishing the existing site, but this didn’t provide best value for money and it didn’t provide the best long term facility for our staff.”
Fire Authority Chair Cllr Robert Taylor, said: “Barnsley Fire Station is the last of the traditional and imposing divisional stations. It has been part of the landscape for over half a century and will hold many fond memories for all those who have served there and the people of Barnsley alike. It is now however time to move forward and this exciting new development will offer a 21st century fire station and facilities that will enhance both the working environment for crews and further develop the already strong community links that exist in Barnsley.”
Bond Bryan acted as architects for the project, Turner and Townsend are providing project and cost management support and JF Finnegan have been appointed as contractors.
