Home > Community > Community Safety
Text only
The people of West Yorkshire are now safer from accidental fires in the home – and that’s official!
But what would an accidental fire in your home mean to you? The damage caused to your property and the cost of even a small fire confined to one room cannot be valued. Imagine trying to replace those items you cherish such as old photographs, jewellery, your favourite chair, even your video collection! Fires can be prevented, and given the chance your local firefighters will show you how.
Latest figures prove that the work currently being done by firefighters from your local fire station, together with the support given by the Fire and Rescue Authority’s dedicated Community Safety Department, is having a dramatic effect upon the number of fires occurring in our community and homes across West Yorkshire.
How has this reduction been achieved? With hard work, forward-looking managers and appropriate funding. But much more can and will be done, our aim being to eliminate all accidental fire, especially within the home. West Yorkshire is acknowledged as one of the leading fire authorities in the Country pioneering many initiatives aimed at educating the general public about the dangers of fire. Your safety is our first priority, and after attending emergency incidents, is the resolve of every firefighter to ensure your continued safety in your own home. We have set ourselves a huge task and it is one that you can play an active role to help.
However, the story of our success started in 1996. Prior to this the authority concentrated its time upon legislative fire precautions in commercial premises such as shops, offices and factories, leaving information given to domestic properties to general advice when requested, for example during fire safety week. If a fire occurred in a house, it was dealt with swiftly and efficiently as you would expect, and the householder given advice on preventing fires in the future. Smoke detectors were available, but only if bought from a shop.
Before 1996 house fires, deaths and injuries happened all too frequently, averaging 36 deaths per year, with no co-ordinated work being carried out to reduce these tragic occurrences. In 1996, fire stations and firefighters started to change the way they worked concentrating on helping people in their homes specifically aimed at reducing the number of accidental fires occurring in houses. Stop fires occurring in the first place and you automatically stop deaths and injuries caused by them. We are working towards no accidental fire deaths occurring in West Yorkshire.
Firefighters now spend much of their time visiting people in their homes completing a Home Fire Safety Check together with the occupier of the house. During the visit, the firefighters will inform and give practical, common sense advice to eliminate or reduce the risk of fire happening in your home. They will also discuss a practical fire escape plan to make sure that if the worst does happen, you can escape with your family safely.
An additional benefit, and one which the Fire and Rescue Authority is justly proud, is the installation of smoke detectors, free of charge, within homes which have been assessed as being most at risk from fires, together with the instruction on their use and maintenance will make sure that occupants are warned of a fire in plenty of time so they can make their escape. Over the last five years we have visited over 60,000 homes and installed over 92,000 smoke detectors completely free of charge.
In addition to the 10 yr smoke detectors the fire service also fit special alarms for the deaf and hard of hearing. Where firefighters come across an occupant during the home fire safety check who cannot hear the smoke alarm they are referred to the Community Safety Department who then go along and assess for the vibrating pad and flashing light which is installed in the bedroom of the occupants home.
To make sure that we use our firefighters time efficiently and effectively, we must target the houses that are most at risk of having a fire. Using sophisticated computer software; residential areas statistically most at risk are plotted for each fire station area so the firefighters can concentrate their visits.
However, the best way of reaching those people is for those who regularly visit homes to suggest to the occupant that a simple home fire safety check by the fire service would make them safer. The local fire stations encourage referrals of this kind, and a new FREE phone number has been introduced 0800 5874536. Try and phone them, they will be only too pleased to help. Indeed we have formed partnerships with many of the Local Authorities to ensure that our time is targeted to those most in need.
On that point, as part of our work in the community, the focal point of fire safety and advice on fire matters should be your local fire station. Do not hesitate to call in or telephone them for advice, it is your service to use, free of charge. Regular galas and open days have become a feature at the fire station for the community in which they serve. The Community Safety Department have various resources with which they can attend any gala or event on request. Some of the displays include demonstrations of Chip Pan fires, Mobile Cinema showing videos on fire safety, Mobile Roadshow Vehicle providing music, games, fire safety quizzes, the one and only 'Blaze Bear' and display stands with Fire Safety leaflets and advice. A more recent addition is 'Freddie' the remote control fire engine, brilliant for the small children. On some stations there are Community rooms and it's possible to hold a club or other organisation meeting there, provided a fire safety message can be delivered at the same time.
Remember, we need your assistance to continue to reduce the number of accidental house fires. A family in Illingworth gives an example of how effective this can be. The local station called and completed a home fire safety check and installed smoke detectors. A couple of days later, a small electrical fire started in the staircase. The smoke detector was set off, and this provided enough time for the occupiers to escape and call the fire brigade. Lives were saved, and damage was reduced to their home and possessions.
Schools provide our future, and they are not forgotten in our plans. Giving talks and showing videos to all pupils in year 5 will complete a policy of providing fire safety education over the long term, ensuring that as adults they will have an awareness of the hazards of fire. The Safety house is used at Crucial Crew days. Road Safety, Fire Safety and Safety in the Home are all areas that are covered by various organisations on these days and are aimed at children aged 9/10 yrs. The house incorporates a bedroom scene and children can act out what they should do if a fire occurs in the house at night when they are in bed.
In areas where there are language difficulties, stations can call upon the service of outreach workers to assist them in making valuable contacts with the local community. Similarly, non-uniformed staff regularly help at special events such as Crucial Crew or Safety Days. These provide excellent opportunities to educate those who will in future form the safety conscious population whilst maintaining prudent financial control.
The Crime and Disorder Act also provides the fire service contact with other statutory authorities, which use the authoritys' expertise in explaining and demonstrating to those individuals the dangers and consequences of deliberately starting fires and providing expert witness service to those appearing in court.
Successes have been made in the area of fire play. Those interested in fire play are given one-to-one education on the dangers and consequences of their actions, shown a video appropriate to their age and are followed up after 3 months of the initial input to see if their fire play has stopped. The programme has a very good success rate with 96% of children seen between the ages of 4yrs and 16yrs having ceased playing with fire.