Firefighters gather in Fishermead in readiness for a day of fire safety checks. Click here for fire safety leaflets in English, Polish, Somali and 28 other languages.
20 May 2009
A pilot scheme to make sure fire safety messages reach minority groups is proving so successful that it is to be extended.
Last year firefighters from Broughton Fire Station became concerned about the number of fires they were attending in Fishermead, Milton Keynes, where smoke alarms were either not fitted or not working. They also noticed that many of the people suffering fires in their homes on the estate did not speak English as a first language.
Crew Manager Kevin Mercer and his colleagues from White Watch decided to take action so that they could make more people aware of the free fire safety advice available from Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service.
Kevin and his crew met representatives from Campbell Park Parish Council, where they established that Polish and Somali were the most predominantly spoken languages after English.
They produced a leaflet in all three languages and delivered hundreds of copies to homes in Tolcarne Avenue, Porthleven Place and Helford Place, telling residents when they would be in the area to carry out free fire safety checks and fit free smoke alarms.
Assisted by colleagues from Great Holm Fire Station and members of Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service’s community safety team, they were invited into 80 homes over the course of two weekends and fitted more than 200 smoke alarms.
Kevin is now a Watch Manager at Aylesbury Fire Station, where he shortly planning to introduce the initiative. Meanwhile, his former colleagues at Broughton are preparing for the next phase of the scheme in Fishermead, which is due to take place in July
Kevin said: “This shows just what can be achieved when you identify a problem and do something about it. It’s just a start, but already 80 additional homes have been made safer thanks to this initiative.
"A working smoke alarm gives you precious extra minutes to react in the event of a fire, and the fire safety information we have provided is making people more aware of the things they can do to avoid having a fire in the first place.”
The initiative has also helped Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service improve one of its key community safety performance statistics. Over 12 months from 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009, the number of house fires it attended where no smoke alarms were fitted fell from just under 50 per cent to 45 per cent.
If you would like to book a free fire safety visit, which includes the fitting of free smoke alarms where necessary, ring 01296 744477, email cs@bucksfire.gov.uk or fill in the online form.