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WYF&R Incident News 17:10 Hrs 9th May  2008       

                   

News Media 17:10 Hrs 9th May 2008

              


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A FIRE chief has praised the actions of a 999 operator who gave a family survival advice as a fire swept through their home.Donna Green and her three young sons, Joe, Jake and Kian, were rescued from their Sowerby Bridge home after a kitchen blaze.

Ten-year-old Joe dialled 999 for Donna while she put an escape plan into action. She got her children into an upstairs bedroom and used bedding to stop smoke billowing into the room under the door. A control room operator at fire HQ in Birkenshaw gave survival guidance while crews from Halifax and Elland went to the blaze in Orion Place.         Click here to read a transcription and listen to Audio of the Call
Smoke detectors, fitted during a safety campaign in 2004, alerted the family to the fire at 2am on Tuesday. Area manager Brian Robson said: "Without a smoke alarm and the calm professionalism of our control staff we could have been talking about a needless tragedy. I can't emphasise too strongly the importance of simple fire precautions. "Last year, Joe's class at school received a talk from the service so he knew exactly how to behave." Donna and her family were rescued by firefighters through a bedroom window. She said: "I would like to pay tribute to the control operator who gave me vital information and reassurance while the rescue team arrived. "I probably owe her our lives." Anyone can have a home fire safety check by calling 0800 5874536.

CALDERDALE FIRE MANAGER RETIRES



David Gardiner, who led the day-to-day running of fire services in Calderdale, left West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service on Friday and has taken up a new non-operational role in fire safety at Wakefield. David was appointed as Calderdale District Manager in January 2007 but has completed 30 years as a firefighter. He served at various fire stations in Huddersfield, Leeds and Wakefield before becoming a station commander at Shipley, Ilkley and Elland. He has also worked in the fire investigation and community fire safety units and in training/career development. Group Manager Gardiner, who lives in Springfield Park, Mirfield, is a graduate of the Institution of Fire Engineers and holds a diploma in management studies.  “The fire and rescue service is changing. We no longer just deal with fires, road accidents and cats stuck up trees. Alongside a swift and effective operational response we have to ensure we try to prevent incidents happening in the first place and that means working much more closely with a range of groups and individuals to drive down unnecessary risks,” he said. “No two communities are exactly alike and the introduction of district management has given stations the freedom to be confident and innovative to try and find local solutions to local problems.”



Fire at Heartbeat Studios Leeds 25/04/08


Fire crews prevented a major fire after entering the smoke logged building to locate the seat of fire. Excellent work undertaken by fire crews prevented a major incident. The fire was located between the 1st and 2nd floors of the building and 2 Hosereel jets, 8 Breathing apparatus and Positive Pressure Ventilation fans were used.





Leeds Derelict Pub Explosion.......5 injured all walking wounded...
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Tony Bingham, 50, left Fairweather Green fire station as it welcomed its latest recruit straight out of training, 20-year-old John Furbisher. Crew manager Ronnie Goldwater said Mr Bingham, who retires on Saturday, May 10, will be greatly missed. He said: "Tony is very conscientious - he is a first rate firefighter of the old school. He is a great role model for any young firefighter."Mr Bingham was involved in some of the largest fire service operations seen in Bradford, including the Renwicks freight yard fire on the site of where Grattan now stands, as well as the Bradford riots in July, 2001.As well as Fairweather Green, he has worked from stations in Idle, Moortown and Odsal.

New Firefighters Posted to Stations

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue has announced the postings of its 187th trainee course. The new recruits have just completed a 13-week intensive training programme at the brigade's International Training Centre in Birkenshaw.

A new report outlines the cause and scale of the district's biggest fires over the last 12 months.In that period, the biggest blaze in West Yorkshire, in terms of the number of firefighters who attended, came at Illingworth Mill, in Hollings Road, Manningham.The fire, on June 15, 2007, was tackled by 117 firefighters, using 22 pumps and seven special appliances.The report, prepared by West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service, indicated that the blaze was caused by a heating appliance.The second largest blaze in the district in the last year came at Monoplas Industries, in Badger Lane, Hipperholme, where 105 firefighters tackled an intense blaze.The cause of the fire, on September 5, has been recorded as accidental, although another large blaze at the premises, on October 10, was listed as being deliberate.The report, which details all blazes attended by six pumps or more, suggests that several other large fires in the district were started on purpose. Fires listed as being started deliberately include a blaze at a derelict building in Fulton Street, Bradford, on August 31, 2007, and a fire at a mill in Carroll Street, Bradford, on December 12, 2007. The cause of a blaze in Carnegie Drive, Windhill, Shipley, on May 28, 2007, has also been recorded as deliberate.

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service is donating a range of used fire kit and equipment to firefighters in the Ukraine. Protective clothing such as tunics, trousers, boots, helmets, a selection of tools and 270 smoke alarms provided by Fire Angel will be sent to the Ukraine this month courtesy of Take Hope (Yorkshire) – a charity which for more than 13 years has made a big difference to the lives of people in the former Yugoslavian states, in Romania, and now in Transcarpathia, Ukraine.

Specialist fire officers from all over Leeds will be joining forces in Wetherby over the next few months to complete a massive community safety project prior to the local fire station changing shift systems later this year. Teams of trained officers will call on residents offering free home fire safety checks, which only take a few minutes but which can save lives. As part of this visit, where necessary, officers will fit free smoke detectors. Where staff call to a house but find nobody in they will leave a leaflet offering the check via a special 24-hour freephone number: 0800 587 4536. A mutually convenient time for a visit can then be arranged.“This campaign builds on the excellent safety work carried out by local fire crews over the years and gives us an opportunity to reach vulnerable people and those normally hard to reach about the danger of fire and what can be done to protect their homes and families,” explained project leader Adrian Cornelissen.“The officers will target specific areas as the campaign progresses but if anyone wishes to book a safety check at any time they can either use the 0800 number or call/phone at the station.“All fire officers wear uniform and carry fire service identity cards. I would encourage all occupiers to check the identity of any caller prior to allowing them on their premises.”

·   Wetherby has a whole time fire station but is classed as a low risk area. It is intended to introduce a day-crewing system there which will mean the full-timers being on call from their homes rather than the station during the night. Wetherby’s daily staffing level will however increase from four to five firefighters.

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They assessed and prioritised the incidents and then used cutting equipment to extricate the survivors. This incident was simulated on this occasion - but are similar to the scenes met by crews every day across the district. Watch manager Mick Brennan, of the Road Traffic Collision Department, cast his expertise over officers' progress at the services headquarters in Birkenshaw. He said: "We try to ensure all the emergency agencies that attend road traffic collisions know exactly what to do in the correct sequence, this is called the saver system."We regularly hold events where we invite paramedics, medical teams and highways agencies to attend multi-discipline training sessions. The day involved having a number of casualties in varying degrees of entrapment and the teams needed to identify the injuries they have sustained, identify how long extraction will take and extricate the casualties in a very controlled, methodical manner."We then evaluate to ensure any learning points are picked up and we address that in further training courses. As part of the Road Traffic Action Reduction Group, we are trying to make people aware of their actions when they are on the road. It is very important to carry out these exercises. We are hoping that we make people aware of driving conditions and things that could happen if they behave incorrectly while they are on the road." Ten-year-old actress Verity Pearson, who has appeared in Casualty and The Royal, took centre stage as a car crash victim. The youngster was rescued after 20 minutes, but she was in extra safe care as her firefighter father, crew manager Tony Pearson, was on hand. She said: "It was really good, it was really realistic. When they lifted you up, they were so careful and really nice. They kept talking to you, they did everything to make you feel better. The make-up looked ace. Being in the car was a really good experience."

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