Thousands of mums-to-be will be educated about home safety thanks to bespoke fire service funded room thermometers.

Following a recent successful trial of the thermometers in the Barnsley area, maternity units across South Yorkshire will now hand out the thermometers to expectant parents.

As well as telling parents when their baby’s room is at the correct temperature, the specially designed thermometers will also display important messages about topics including home fire safety and smoke free homes.

There will also be a focus on referring people to Stop Smoking Maternity service, whereby specialist midwives give practical advice and support to families who smoke. As well as greatly increasing the risk of house fires, smoking in pregnancy is known to increase the risk of miscarriage, still and premature birth and other complications.

The project has been awarded just over £23,500 under 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.

Groups were able to bid for as little as £5,000 or as much as £150,000 to support projects which reduce injuries, save lives and make South Yorkshire safer. Key objectives for the fund include prioritising the most vulnerable, collaboration and data sharing.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue high risk co-ordinator, Sarah Broadbent, said: “We already have a strong relationship with the midwives at Barnsley Hospital, including a successful referral scheme ensuring the most vulnerable families in the borough are referred for our home safety check service.

“This latest project will see important fire safety messages delivered to thousands of families in South Yorkshire, at a busy time in their lives when basic home safety issues could easily be forgotten.”

Joanne Poskitt, Specialist Midwife in Drug and Alcohol Use at Barnsley Hospital, said: “We work closely with the fire service already as it is well documented that there are links between a smoking home and sudden infant death or meningitis.

“The thermometers are a practical and simple tool which will help parents provide a safe sleeping environment for baby, information on creating a smoke free home and offer the opportunity for a free home safety check. We have already been handing out the thermometers in Barnsley and will now be extended to the whole of South Yorkshire.”

An award-winning local children’s author has been named head judge in a fire service led creative writing challenge.

Barnsley born Caryl Hart, now living in Bakewell, Derbyshire has volunteered to judge the South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue competition, which calls on youngsters to send in their best piece of creative writing.

The fire service hopes the competition will inspire dozens of local youngsters to think about fire safety, whilst putting their literacy and creative skills to the test.

A LEGO City fire station will be awarded to the winner, as chosen by Caryl, author of popular children’s books including Don’t Dip Your Chips, Welcome to Alien School and Supermarket Zoo. Five runners up will also win a signed copy of one of Caryl’s books.

Education advocate Julie Claytor, said: “Children are an important audience for us, particularly as they are often the best advocates for fire safety at home. We know from school visits and other education work that they often pass on vital fire safety messages to their families and we hope this competition will be another opportunity for us to spread that learning.”

Caryl said: “I know there are lots of brilliant young writers in South Yorkshire – I’ve met a lot of you. So get out your pens, pencils, computers, phones and tablets and get writing. I can’t wait to read your stories!”

The contest is open to all primary school aged children in South Yorkshire. The theme is ‘a day in the life of a firefighter’ and the stories should aim to include at least one fire safety message.

Children can submit an entry by post to Writing Competition, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, 197 Eyre Street, Sheffield, S1 3FG or by emailing press@syfire.gov.uk with ‘Writing Competition’ in the subject box, before the closing date of 13 May 2016.

Full terms and conditions can be found by visiting www.syfire.gov.uk/writingcompetition

A partnership youth project is helping to turn around anti-social behaviour in the South East of Sheffield

The Dark Nights project works with partners including Salvation Army, South Yorkshire Police, Activity Sheffield and South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue to deliver an eight week youth club project for young people in the area.

The scheme was awarded nearly £5900 under the South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Authority’s funding scheme, Stronger Safer Communities Reserve.

The project runs from January to March, when the number of alternative, positive activities available to youngsters in the area is normally at its lowest. Young people meet once a week to take part in activities, including tours of the fire training and development centre, as well as educational sessions around first aid, road safety, fire investigation, social media awareness and the consequences of anti-social behaviour.

Andrew Watson at Salvation Army said; “We are thankful to South Yorkshire Fire Authority’s funding which has enabled the project to proceed. It continues to be popular with young people and provides a great approach to preventing future anti social behaviour as well as making young people more responsible for their safety and the community they live in.”

SYFR Station Manager Matt Gillatt said: “Engaging with young people in this way is one of the best ways of building lasting, positive relationships which have long term benefits for the communities we serve. It’s only by working together that public agencies can put together initiatives like this one and we are grateful to all the partners involved in helping us deliver these youth clubs.”

The Stronger Safer Communities Reserve 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. Groups were able to bid for as little as £5,000 or as much as £150,000 to support projects which reduce injuries, save lives and make South Yorkshire safer.

Dozens of South Yorkshire fire cadets have been honoured at a ceremony in Sheffield to mark their achievements.

More than 70 cadets, aged 13 to 17, were recognised in front of friends and family at the event at the fire service’s Handsworth training base.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue runs seven cadet schemes- at Birley Moor, Cudworth, Edlington, Elm Lane, Lowedges, Rotherham and Stocksbridge fire stations.

Cadets train at their respective stations once a week, learning firefighting skills and techniques from specially qualified instructors. They also play a key role at community events and take part in team-building days throughout the year.

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. Young people work towards a recognised qualification at the end of a 12 month course, with certificates for successful completion of the programme handed out at last week’s event.

Station manager Spencer Rowland, said: “Our fire cadets scheme has a long and proud history. Whereas it once gave young people an insight into a career as a firefighter, it has evolved to provide a much more rounded mixture of skills and training, including community work and exercises to build personal confidence and employment skills.

“South Yorkshire has one of the most successful fire cadet schemes in the country, so it is right that we recognise the achievements of our youngsters in this way.”

One of our firefighters will be running the marathon of a lifetime, as he hits the streets for charity in memory of his teenage son.

 Nigel Clark, temporary Watch Manager at Cudworth fire station in Barnsley, will be running the 2016 London Marathon in memory of his son, Adam who died suddenly last year aged only 17.

 This will be the first marathon he has ever ran, and will be donating all proceeds to the British Heart Foundation.

 Adam was a healthy 16 year old who sadly suffered a Cardiac Arrest whilst at home in July 2014. His mum(Beth), sister(Rebecca) and Nigel gave CPR until the Paramedics arrived.

 Adam sustained a hypoxic brain injury due to lack of oxygen. He never regained consciousness and sadly passed away in February 2015.

 Nigel said: “The last 18 months have been a living nightmare for our whole family. Our son Adam was a lively and healthy 16 year old boy and we have been completely devastated by what has happened to him at such a young age. It has been just over a year since we lost him but the pain never really goes away. I hope to raise £2000 for the British Heart Foundation to go towards research to help others as that’s what Adam would have wanted.”

 Please visit his Just Giving page here<https://www.justgiving.com/nigel-clark12/> to donate, ahead of the marathon on 24 April.