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Dear Residents
Summer is upon us already and Cleveland Fire Brigade wants to ensure that our communities are safe and well over the coming months.
As you are aware, we support and liaise with our communities in order to maintain safety. Can we remind you that during the summer period there are a number of shows and demonstrations taking place; should you require support or the attendance of any of the Stations this needs to be requested early as there is not only an operational demand for appliances and staff, but also a community demand.
• Requesting a fire appliance for shows normally needs to be arranged with a minimum of 14 days notice; the ideal is one month.
Current facilities available are:
1 Fire appliance
2 Chip Pan Demonstration Unit
Requests considered which require additional planning may be road traffic accident and casualty removal demonstration. This will require provision of a vehicle and the disposal of a vehicle being set up by the showground organisers.
• Community Forum Presentations – On request, we can provide a new DVD presentation titled ‘Dying to be Cool’. This is a 15 minute presentation which fits in well with the summer holidays and highlights the dangers of youths entering and swimming in cold water unsupervised.
• We are also currently promoting our Heartstart programme – We can take bookings for organisations or groups with up to 12 maximum per course; this is particularly applicable to groups or family members that may come into contact with persons suffering from cardiac problems. There also is a limited capacity to provide an inflatable resusi-Annie and DVD presentation to organised groups but there are criteria to be met.
• We are still promoting our message in a bottle campaign which is a free notice and small medical container recognised by Health Trust organisations and emergency services. This is a facility whereby anyone on medication can leave details and a small amount of medication in case of emergency in the fridge. Any emergency staff responding to a property where the casualty is unconscious or cannot communicate with the rescuers, will have background and medical information stored in the container. PLEASE TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY TO REQUEST THIS FREE SERVICE WHICH IS AVAILABLE TO ALL.
• Locally our communities only have 50% take up on Home Fire Safety Visits. Accidental fires in the home still occur so please take the opportunity of receiving free advice and have that extra protection provided in your home.
Over the summer holidays, can we just remind you that traditionally there is an increase in heath and woodland fires; please take care and recommend your children to take care to protect our environment and our communities? The setting of fires on the heath, woodland or on the moors is discouraged as this can have an impact on our environment and wildlife.
During the summer holiday youths will be out and about playing; please ensure that you have your rubbish and refuse disposed of through the official channels. We do not want our youths and children hurt by falling on discarded items and any anti-social behaviour impacting our community should a deliberate fire be set.
Locally over the next two months we are having weeks of action with local partnerships where we will be targeting an area to address wider community safety issues. The two local areas are Coatham the week of 4 August and Guisborough the week of 20 August 2008.
Start planning our activities to minimise the impact of bonfire night now. If we plan together we can ensure our communities enjoy festivities with the minimum amount of disruption and we certainly don’t want any injuries or damaged property.
If you require any further details, please contact your local Fire Station.
FIRE BRIGADE LAUNCHES HOME SAFETY INITIATIVE FOR DRUG USERS IN REDCAR!
Cleveland Fire Brigade is launching a scheme to increase home safety for drug and alcohol users and their families in Redcar.
The initiative, which is the first of its kind in the country, has been successfully piloted in Hartlepool andexpanded to Middlesbrough and Stockton in partnership with other agencies.
The programme is designed to increase fire safety, home security and in particular reduce the potential risk of children having access to medicine by providing secure medication cabinets.
The Brigade has a Drug and Alcohol Advocate, Lindsay Galbraith, whose role is dedicated to increasing fire safety awareness amongst drug and alcohol users.
Lindsay will be launching the scheme in Redcar on Friday 2 May at the Lifeline Project, 161 High Street, Redcar, when people are invited to refer themselves to the initiative or find out more information. Lindsay said: “The initiative was first launched in Hartlepool in August 2006 and because of its success we expanded it to the Middlesbrough District in May 2007 year then Stockton in November 2007. “Now the scheme is going from strength to strength and benefiting the community we have decided to expand it
again into the Redcar district.
“I have been working with agencies which include Cleveland Police, Coast & Country Housing and Redcar Primary Care Trust who will be key to the scheme because they will make referrals as they already have links with drug and alcohol users and their families.
“I will be visiting medical and advice centres in the town to speak to people there and also offer referrals and advice to people. “The referrals involve a short home visit by Brigade personnel who will discuss fire safety, fit smoke alarms and refer them for a secure medicine cabinet if they are eligible. “Residents will also be offered a security check where home security officers can give advice on crime prevention and check if any window or door locks are needed in the home.
“We would like drug and alcohol users and their families to either get in contact with us directly on 01429 874051 and ask for me, through their own drug treatment programme or by coming along to the launch on Friday 2 May from 1pm at the Lifeline Project on Redcar High Street, to find out more about the free scheme, get safety advice
or sign up for a referral. Everyone will be treated with the strictest of confidence.”
Rachael Robertson, Project Manager, Lifeline said: “Lifeline is delighted to be involved with such a worthwhile and positive venture, as harm minimisation is at the forefront of our work. This initiative will benefit not only our service users, but local communities, and we look forward to the positive outcomes this partnership will provide.
Iain Sim, Coast & Country Housing's Chief Executive said: “Coast & Country Housing are very pleased to take part in this partnership with Cleveland Fire Brigade to help reduce the risk and the danger of accidental fires in residents' homes.”
Learn and Live
Learn and Live is the road safety presentation designed by Cleveland Fire Brigade to reach the vulnerable drivers in our region with a short, sharp and shocking message. Fire Brigades throughout the country have realised its life saving potential and many now use it as their primary tool in .the fight to reduce on our roads. The presentation which lasts just under thirty minutes enables us to demonstrate the reality of irresponsible driving from the safety of our workplace at no cost to your organisation.
We use shocking film footage backed up with startling statistics. This is delivered by a Fire-Fighter who, using the experiences they have been exposed to when attending road traffic collisions can connect with your workforce in a new and innovative way. In the last 12 months Coulby Newham, Stockton, and Hartlepool Fire Stations delivered the presentation to over 9000 young people in the region and along with our Road Safety Partners have seen a drop in the number of deaths on Cleveland's roads from 33 to 6 in the last six months.
Drivers at workfare the second highest risk group after young people and are involved in 20 road deaths, and as many as 250 serious injury road accidents in the UK every week.
As an employer , manager or supervisor you have a legal responsibility to ensure the health and safety of all employees while they are at work. Health and safety law appliesto on-the-road work activities as it does to all work activities and we can deliver the education your company needs.
The presentation can be delivered at your work place at a time suitable for your company.
The shows, although hard hitting are not meant to upset people. The aim is to educate those most at risk of the dangers they face when driving at, to or from work. The message is we would rather meet you in the workplace than in the road.
Finally we would like to quote Inspector Eric Robinson, Head of Cleveland road Policing Unit and the Chair of Cleveland Causality Reduction Group who has taken part in the Road shows and has been so supportive in delivering the Road Safety Message.
“Having witnessed the ‘Learn & Drive’ initiative first hand, I found it to be innovative, thought provoking, extremely Realistic and totally focused on reducing casualties. I fully support its aims and commend Cleveland Fire Brigade for its efforts to reduce road causalities, particularly amongst the young people” .
For further information on how you can deliver Learn and Live in your organisation contact Cleveland Fire Brigade on 01429 872311
and ask for Jimmy Ruse, Steve Walton or Steve Brodie. NEW INTERVENTION PROGRAMME GETS YOUNGSTERS HOOKED ON FISHING
Young people are being encouraged to ‘Get Hooked on Fishing’ as part of a new partnership aimed to reduce anti-social behaviour.
Cleveland Fire Brigade is working with national charity, Get Hooked on Fishing (GHOF) and Safe in Tees Valleys Redcar and Cleveland Youth Inclusion Programme (YIP) to launch the new intervention programme.
Six young people aged from 10 – 17, will have their first taster session at the River Tees Water Sports Centre on Friday 24 August at 10.30am where they will be introduced to the sport.
Neil Heath, the Brigade’s Community Liaison Officer for Redcar said: “Get Hooked on Fishing currently runs their intervention programme throughout the country with great success.
“The Brigade has created this partnership to help in the fight against arson which accounts for 90% of our fires throughout Middlesbrough, Redcar, Stockton and Hartlepool.
“The aim of the sessions, which are taught in modules, is to deliver fun and interactive training in the sport of angling whilst increasing young persons’ awareness of the environment and how to look after it, enhancing skills and team building and demonstrating there are viable alternatives to crime and anti-social behaviour.
“Some of the young people from the taster sessions, which are going to be run every Friday for the next four weeks, could be identified and developed into becoming instructors themselves. This will enable them to become role models and to run courses in the future.
“The young people who will be attending the angling sessions will be identified through Redcar and Cleveland Youth Inclusion programme, which is providing funding for the scheme.
“Redcar and Cleveland is an excellent location to introduce the programme because of its natural resources for both fresh water and sea fishing.”
Paul McGowan Redcar and Cleveland Youth Inclusion Project Ops Manager said: “This is a great opportunity for the young people to learn new skills and be involved in something constructive that will hopefully divert them from the possibility of becoming involved in anti social behaviour.
“Whilst learning how to fish correctly and been made aware of the environment, we think this is a great forum for the fire brigade to get across there community safety message to the young people.
Ban the Pan - FOREVER Cleveland has celebrated a period of over 12 months with no fire deaths.
Your fire service has worked along with the community forums to ensure the safety of our community. We have a number of free safety projects designed to meet the needs of the local community:-
1. Local residents are still invited to take up the option of a free home safety check.
They will receive personal advice on home fire safety as well as the installation of free smoke alarms to meet their personal needs.
If you are aware or concerned of anyone in the Redcar and Cleveland area who needs our support to build a safer environment in their home.
Please make a call to 01429 874063 and ask for a free Home Fire Safety Check
2. In conjunction with the home fire safety checks
We also have a scheme for parents or guardians who have a child who may not fully recognise the dangers of playing with fire.The child may have started playing with matches or fire inside or outside the home.
The Cleveland Fire Brigade offers a confidential support team visit by our trained staff who have experience in making young people aware of the dangers and consequences of playing with fire. A number of concerned parents and guardians have taken up the offer of this confidential service, with positive results. Each family will be provided with a free safety pack.
Call on 01429 872311 and ask for our Fire-setter Intervention programme.
We value the support of our communities in our main objective:-
Preventing loss of life and injuries and reducing risks to the community, together we make a difference. The Fire Service has worked alongside the community forums to ensure the safety of our community
Please make a call to 01429 874063 and ask for a free Home Fire Safety Check
New Station Manager at Redcar Fire Station had been appointed
George Crooks joined the brigade in 1979. He has served in a number of operational posts throughout Cleveland over the last 28 years including Watch Manger at Redcar Station.
George left Redcar Station to develop the brigade’s involvement the new area of Arson Reduction.
Having served as the Arson Reduction Manager for 5 years he developed and assisted
in the brigade achieving significant reductions in deliberate fires over those years.
An opportunity to work along with Cleveland Police in January 06 opened up. In this partnership role George carried out 112 joint fire and police investigations resulting in five custodial sentences for arson.
George is delighted to return to Redcar station as the Station Manager to re-establish his
working arrangements with the station the local partners with the overall aim of benefiting the local community.
He intends to use his skills and experience to work to that end.
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