We will soon be opening recruitment for wholetime firefighters and are holding some taster days at our training centre in January so that people from groups currently under represented amongst our frontline staff can find out more about a career in the fire service.

We will always recruit the best people for the job. But we also want to ensure our workforce accurately represents the communities we serve, so these days are about providing information to potential women, black and minority ethnic and LGBT applicants so that they can make an informed career decision.

If you would like to register your interest in one of the days on either Wednesday 4 January (other under represented groups, including women) or Saturday 14 January (women only) please email recruitment@syfire.gov.uk

You can find more information about positive action and what it means here

Firefighters and 999 operators have teamed up with the Everly Pregnant Brothers to record ‘Chip Pan’ and we’re trying to get it to Christmas number one.

As well as raising money for Age UK Sheffield and Shelter and raising awareness of a serious fire safety message in a light hearted way, we’re going for the top spot to remind people of the tens of thousands of firefighters and other emergency services workers who will be on duty this Christmas Day to keep you safe.

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South Yorkshire firefighters have performed a sell out gig to kick start their assault on the Christmas number one spot, in what bookmakers say could be one of the greatest shocks in chart history.

Thousands of people saw Central red watch firefighters perform ‘Chip Pan’ on stage with the Everly Pregnant Brothers at Sheffield’s O2 Academy.

The song tells the cautionary tale of a man who sets his house alight after a night out drinking and goes on sale on Friday.

A video which accompanies the track clocked up more than half a million views online within days, prompting bookies to halve their odds on the song reaching number one.

The track is being released to remind people of the contribution of firefighters who will be on duty this Christmas Day. The campaign has won the backing of fire and rescue services from every corner of the UK- and even as far afield as Canada, Australia and the US.

Assistant Chief Fire Officer Martin Blunden, said: “We’re going for Christmas number one to remind people that tens of thousands of firefighters and other emergency services staff across the country will be working this Christmas Day to keep you safe, including red watch firefighters and control staff who helped to make the video which accompanies the song.”

William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said: “Every now and then you come across a song that should have no chance but this is great fun and ticks many boxes. We have already slashed the odds and this could be one of the greatest shocks in chart history.”

Good causes will benefit from the assault on the festive song summit, with cash raised from sales of the single going to charities Age UK and Shelter.

‘Chip Pan’ by the Everly Pregnant Brothers is available to pre-order on iTunes, Google Play Music, Amazon, Spotify and Deezer. But to give the song the best chance of reaching number one when the official Christmas chart is released, the public are asked to only download the song after 16 December.

A joint emergency services team set up to reduce demand on 999 responders in Sheffield has picked up a major health award.

The Local Intervention and Falls Episodes (LIFE) team, set up by South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue and South Yorkshire Police and supported by Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, won the award for best NHS Collaboration at the Health Business Awards 2016 event in London.

The team is four months into a six-month pilot which sees staff visit homes to reduce fire risk in properties, improve security and help people who have fallen.

So far the project has carried out more than 150 crime prevention checks and 250 home safety visits, which include the fitting of free smoke alarms.

The team also responds to help people at, low priority incidents, including helping almost 40 people who have had a fall, are not injured, but are unable to get up on their own.

LIFE team staff have also helped find missing people and visited vulnerable people who have either been victims of crime or are at risk of anti-social behaviour.

Some of this work traditionally takes police officers and paramedics off the road for many hours.

SYFR Head of Prevention and Protection Steve Helps, said: “This award is the best possible example of our commitment to collaborate with our emergency services partners. It’s also deserved recognition for a brand new team, which proves emergency services are working together locally to help make people safer and healthier.

“We know that there are huge links between the people who need the help of the police and health services, and those who are at risk of fire. So collaborative working such as this undoubtedly benefits our public safety work.”

Chief Inspector Jenny Lax from South Yorkshire Police, said: “I am delighted that the LIFE team have won this national award, which recognises that the emergency services are working well together through collaboration to reduce the vulnerability of people in our communities and improve their quality of life”.

Dr Steven Dykes, Deputy Medical Director at Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said: “It’s great to see this example of joint working recognised at a national level, particularly as it has benefited many local residents in its first few months by providing them with an integrated approach to their social and medical needs.”

The team operates using two specialist vehicles and consists of four staff – two South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue employees and two South Yorkshire Police community support officers (PCSOs).

The scheme has been funded by South Yorkshire Fire Authority for six months and researchers from the University of Huddersfield have been commissioned to evaluate its effectiveness. If successful, it could be extended and taken to other parts of South Yorkshire.

Last year the Government announced new proposals to transform the way the police, fire and rescue and ambulance services work together. It wants to encourage collaboration by introducing 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, fire crews already attend hundreds of ‘medical break-ins’ every year, where they gain access to properties where people are thought to be in need of urgent medical attention, but where ambulance service paramedics cannot get to them. This work used to be carried out by the police.

Work has also now started on a joint police and fire station in Maltby, whilst five ambulance stand-by points will also be created at five other fire service premises across the county.

ENDS

Caption (l-r): Catherine James (Yorkshire Ambulance Service), Rob Hall (LIFE), Jonathan Dyson (South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue), Jenny Lax (South Yorkshire Police), Jayne White (LIFE)

Eleven young people on a fire service team programme have won a regional award for their community project.

The young people were winners in the Community Impact category at the Yorkshire & Humber Prince’s Trust Celebrate Success Awards 2016 and are now hoping to be shortlisted for the national awards in Spring 2017.

The team were part of the Prince’s Trust Team Programme run by South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue.  A 12 week personal development course for unemployed 16 – 25 year olds, offering work experience, qualifications, practical skills, community projects and a residential week.

The community project which helped win them the award involved cleaning up and painting three unloved bridges in the Goldthorpe area with the support of the local people behind them.

SYFR Team Leader Rhian Oxley said, “I am so proud of this group and what they have achieved.  From a small idea proposed by four members of the team into incorporating a whole village into believing they could make a change.  I wish them luck as they progress to the next stage and hope they are shortlisted for the national awards.”

SYFR Area Manager Steve Helps said: “This is a real achievement for these young people.  The Prince’s Trust Team Programme is a fantastic scheme which South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue are proud to be associated with and the role we have played in helping these young people aspire to a better future.”

To be part of the next Team Programme please contact John Daley on 07769 887249 or princestrust@syfire.gov.uk

A major UK retailer has become the first business to sign-up to a new fire service partnership scheme in South Yorkshire.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue (SYFR) will work with department store chain Boyes as part of the initiative, which will see fire service experts providing the company with safety advice the company can adopt across its sites nationwide.

Partnerships like this, also available to other organisations, are known as Primary Authority Schemes (PAS) and allow the fire service and businesses to come together to improve the quality and consistency of safety and prevention measures.

The schemes also help to cut red tape for larger businesses, by streamlining their compliance with fire safety laws.

SYFR Business Fire Safety Manager Amy Jenkinson, said: “Boyes is a well known local business with strong Yorkshire roots. It has since expanded its operations and now runs 59  department stores throughout the north of England so we are pleased to be working with them to ensure that fire safety compliance is effective and consistent across the company.

“Primary Authority Schemes are a brilliant tool for helping us to work more closely with companies who are proactive about delivering on their fire safety duties and we hope to sign agreements with further businesses to work with them in this way.”

Boyes opened its first shop in Scarborough in 1881 and operates 59 stores across the UK and is due to open its 60th store at the end of November at Firth Park in Sheffield.

Boyes Safety Manager, Vivienne Sheader said: “The safety of our customers and staff is very important to us. We are delighted to have established this relationship which was first suggested to us following a successful routine fire audit that was carried out by SYFR in our Doncaster store.

“Our business is growing every year and to have a single point of reference that is recognised by every local fire authority enables us to apply consistent fire safety standards across all of our buildings.”

Primary Authority Schemes are statutory schemes, established by the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 (the RES Act). It allows an eligible business to form a legally recognised partnership with a single local authority in relation to regulatory compliance. This local authority is then known as its ‘primary authority’.

Primary authorities play a valuable role in leading and shaping the regulation of businesses that partner with them. In doing so, they deliver benefits for the regulatory system as a whole, for the businesses they partner with, and for those that the regulations are designed to protect – consumers, workers and the environment. Primary authorities, including fire and rescue services, are able to charge for this service on a cost recovery basis.

For more information contact tfs.cs@syfire.gov.uk or visit https://www.syfire.gov.uk/business-advice

Barnsley firefighters have helped a brave Sheffield boy battling cancer realise his dreams of being a firefighter for a day.

Kasabian Newton-Smith, aged eight, from Parson Cross, has been fighting cancer since he was two years old. Part of his ‘bucket list’ is to be a firefighter, and so a family friend decided to make it happen.

He visited Barnsley fire station, where white watch welcomed him on to the team for the day.

After getting to grips with the fire engine, Kasabian received a simulated call out to his first incident, when he hopped on to the fire engine and whizzed around the yard.

He also watched the crew demonstrate the cutting gear used at road traffic collisions and issued instructions to the firefighters, led by watch manager Nick Brown.

Kasabian’s dad, Simon Newton-Smith said “Kasabian had a fantastic day – white watch were brilliant hosts and made sure it was action packed from start to finish.”

Station Manager Damian Henderson said “Kasabian started off very shy at the beginning of the day, but once he’d had his first call out and had a go in the engine, he was giving me my orders! I think I speak on behalf of everybody at South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue when I say what a pleasure it was to have Kasabian on station, and I feel privileged to have been a part of his big day.”