Generous fire service staff are backing food banks in South Yorkshire this Christmas, by making bumper festive donations.

Food has been collected across South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue premises, including its Sheffield headquarters, and is being delivered to food banks across the county, including those in Rotherham and Doncaster.

The service says that partnering with food banks allows it to give vital fire safety information to people who need it the most.

Food bank visitors are encouraged to refer themselves for a home safety check, whereby fire service staff visit a person’s home, explain to them how to make it safer and fit smoke alarms for free if needed. Dozens have signed up so far.

Fire safety officers also hold regular drop in sessions, giving face-to-face safety and fire prevention advice to service users and their families.

Area Manager Steve Helps, said: “House fires have reduced massively in the last decade, but sadly the people who are most likely to suffer a fire are also often the hardest to reach with fire safety information. That’s why it’s important that we work closely with partners, like local food banks, so that we can continue reduce deaths and injuries in accidental house fires.”

The fire service has teamed up with food banks in Rotherham in a ground breaking partnership to reduce blazes.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue says that working with Rotherham food bank allows them to give vital fire safety information to people who need it the most.

Food bank visitors are encouraged to refer themselves for a home safety check, whereby fire service staff visit a person’s home, explain to them how to make it safer and fit smoke alarms for free if needed. Dozens have signed up so far.

Fire safety officers also hold regular drop in sessions, giving face-to-face safety and fire prevention advice to service users and their families.

Rotherham food bank is part of the Trussell Trust’s network of more than 400 such facilities across the UK.

Fire service staff are also supporting the group’s work by collecting food and donating it to several food banks across South Yorkshire.

Area Manager Steve Helps, said: “House fires have reduced massively in the last decade, but sadly the people who are most likely to suffer a fire are also often the hardest to reach with fire safety information. That’s why it’s important that we work closely with partners, like Rotherham food bank, so that if we can continue reduce deaths and injuries in accidental house fires.”

A fire service emergency planning manager has delivered a major speech on business continuity to a global audience.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue (SYFR) business continuity manager Russ Parramore delivered a speech at the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) World Conference and Exhibition in London, which attracted more than 1,000 delegates from over 100 countries.

The presentation detailed how the fire service has developed its risk, resilience and business continuity arrangements throughout history.

In particular, Russ focussed on the introduction of the Fire and Rescue Service Act [2004] and the Civil Contingencies Act [2004, which created a new requirement for the fire service to have business continuity plans in place.

As a result of these laws, the presentation detailed how SYFR has developed its plans over the last decade to become of the world’s leading public service authorities on business continuity.

Russ Parramore said: “Business continuity is a hot topic for many large organisations, both public and private, as they seek to work out how they can limit the disruption to their staff and the people they serve after a catastrophic event, which could range from a simple power outage to severe staff shortages.

“The fire service has always been at the forefront of this sort of work and risk and resilience has been at the heart of what we do for hundreds of years.

“It’s a coup for South Yorkshire and for the fire sector as a whole that I was able to share my experiences with a global audience and to explain how business continuity has gone from being seen as a statutory duty that must be done, to something that is truly embedded across an entire organisation.”

For more information on business continuity, visit https://www.syfire.gov.uk/business-advice/business-continuity

South Yorkshire firefighters have taken their most powerful piece of pumping equipment to assist emergency services battling the flooding in Cumbria.

Six firefighters travelled to the flood hit county over the weekend, taking with them a High Volume Pump (HVP). A further team of firefighters will relieve them on Monday morning (7 December).

HVPs are capable of moving huge volumes of water, and South Yorkshire’s is capable of pumping 8,000 litres of water a minute. Its first deployment has been to pump flood water back into the River Derwent in Cockermouth.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue’s firefighters, most of whom are normally based at Aston Park fire station, are expected to remain in Cumbria for several days.

Head of Emergency Response Phil Shillito, said: “We are pleased to be able to offer practical and strategic support to our colleagues in Cumbria.”

“The High Volume Pump is an extremely powerful piece of kit and is ideally suited to helping to deal with the quantities of water we are talking about in Cumbria right now.

“To be part of such a massive relief effort is extremely rewarding for those involved and I would like to thank them on behalf of the people that they are assisting.”

Senior officers agreed to make their resources available following a request from the National Co-ordinating Centre, after ensuring they were satisfied with the fire and rescue provision which remains available for local people in South Yorkshire.

The fire service’s tradition of sharing national assets benefited communities in Doncaster in 2007, when more than 30 HVPs from all over the country helped to pump out flooded areas around Bentley and Toll Bar.

A fire station based ‘memory cafe’ which aims to support the growing numbers of people in South Yorkshire who live with dementia has been officially launched.

Adwick fire station at Quarry Lane, Woodlands hosts the monthly memory cafe as part of a new partnership between South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue and the Alzheimer’s Society.

The events, held once each month on a Thursday afternoon, provide an opportunity for people living with dementia and their carers to meet in a safe, managed environment and to take part in activities to promote mental and physical wellbeing, like games and health walks.

An Alzheimers Society Dementia Support Worker also attends each meeting to give information and support to carers.

Leaders including South Yorkshire Fire Authority Vice Chair Cllr Alan Atkin, Assistant Chief Fire Officer Martin Blunden and Integrated Dementia Lead for Doncaster Clinical Commissioning Group Wayne Goddard were amongst those who attended the launch, alongside carers and their loved ones.

Officers believe the project will benefit the fire service by providing a vital link with one of its key target groups in terms of vulnerability to fire.

They think the partnership also highlights the growing role the fire service can play in promoting health and wellbeing in the communities it serves.

Area Manager Steve Helps, said: “In the last decade, the fire service has helped to make South Yorkshire safer than is has been at any time in its history in terms of house fires and fire related deaths and injuries.

“But we believe we can play a much wider role in terms of tackling some of the big health challenges our country faces in the future. This project is the perfect illustration of that aspiration, where fire service resources are helping to improve the lives of one of the most vulnerable groups in society.”

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue is also a member of the Yorkshire & Humber Dementia Alliance, which is committed to tackling the growing issue of dementia within our communities.

Hundreds of its staff have also signed up to become Dementia Friends- a Government backed initiative which teaches people a little bit more about what it’s like to live with dementia, and then turns that understanding into action.

Paul Harrison, Alzheimer’s Society Operations Manager for South Yorkshire ,said: “We are delighted to enter into this partnership with the fire service and are grateful to them for hosting the Memory Café in their premises – it is certainly one of our more unusual locations.

“Alzheimer’s Society research has shown that people living with dementia thrive better if they can continue to live in their own homes for as long as possible, but they can be very vulnerable to risks in the home including fire. Working with the South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue is a vital part of creating supportive dementia friendly communities and improving both safety and wellbeing of people living with dementia and their carers in the area.”

Integrated Dementia Lead for Doncaster Clinical Commissioning Group Wayne Goddard, said: “This is a great initiative on so many levels; firstly as 50% of deaths caused by fire involve older people and dementia is mainly concerned with older people, this dementia café not only brings people, partners and communities together for support but actually helps Doncaster with its prevention agenda.

“People with dementia and their carers tell me the café is great and they love coming and it almost feels ‘more normal’ so the arrangement also helps with stigma which can often be a barrier for people living normal lives. I have nothing but praise for the partnership and hopefully we can expand this model to Doncaster’s other stations.”

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue has community rooms available at many of its fire stations across the county which are available to use, free of charge, to a variety of charities and community organisations.

For more information click here