Fire-Fighter Paul Wilkes gives us an update from Aldridge Fire Station.
Walsall Housing Group supplied empty properties for a realistic training scenario in Willenhall during January. Blue watch crews from Aldridge and Walsall were amongst those facing fires, casualties and a suspected cannabis factory. The exercise was just another way in which we work with our partners to help make communities safer. “We have a great relationship with the fire service and are always looking at how we can support them in their work,” said Director of Energy and Programme Management Paul Dockerill to the WHG website. “As these properties were standing empty, they were the ideal location for the firefighters to carry out a live exercise in a realistic environment. The day also gave us the opportunity to test our incident management plans.”
On a more serious note, a man was found dead in Erdington, Birmingham under hoarded piles of rubbish. It’s believed that between 2%-5% of the population may have symptoms of a hoarding disorder. West Midlands Fire Service visited approximately 300 properties during 2015 with severe, dangerous or excessive hoarding. Based on these figures, it appears that this is just the tip of the iceberg and there could be many more people out there that just haven’t come to the attention of the services yet. This illustrates the importance of multi-agency work in communicating through a hoarding framework.
At the start of March, there’s an On-call firefighters recruitment campaign. The West Midlands Fire Service doesn’t have any of these types of firefighters, who were traditionally known as retained. However, we do work alongside them when attended incidents in other brigade areas. For example, crews at Aldridge will have incidents in Burntwood, whilst many of the Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service work on an on-call system. If you know of anyone that lives in close proximity to a station with this staffing option, then it may be something of interest to them. Being an on-call firefighter means people become part of a close-knit team, gain a range of new skills, earn additional money which fits around existing jobs and commitments, while making a difference within the local community.
No Smoking Day is on the 11th March, so it’s the perfect time to finally kick the habit. Many people are aware of the effects on health that smoking causes, but few realise the cost implications to the country and fire services. 6.3% of all fires are caused by smoking-related and 26.1% of fire deaths are smoking-related. Tobacco is designed to stay lit so cigarettes and cigars can easily start an accidental fire, especially if you are sleepy or have been drinking alcohol. If you can’t persuade family and friends, or even yourselves to stop completely, then we urge smokers to Put it Out, Right Out!
Your local Fire Station can provide a free Safe and Well visit on request, where we provide smoke detectors, hearing impaired alarms and fire safety advice. You can book yours NOW by calling free on 0800 389 5525!
We look forward to more updates from Aldridge Fire Station.
For information on Aldridge Fire Cadets click here