Fireman Jeff Naylor

As an Aries who  had the (mis)  fortune to be born in the Chinese year of the Tiger it could be said that I  am astrologically pre programmed to be hot headed and  bad tempered  (ok that might be a rhetorical question)  it could also be said that i see things very much in black or white - no  50 Shades of Grey  for me  

BUT some times things are so obvious,  to ignore them is a crime. 

And in my opinion today WYFRS should have had on its news site a mention or memorial  to  Jeff Naylor the last firefighter to die whilst on operational duty in West Yorkshire. Lets hope in  10 weeks time after reading this they mark the anniversary of his actual death with significantly more respect. 

On Saturday a very important event took place, the naming of the last remaining pump

 at Keighley Fire Station  after   Jeff  Naylor a fireman at the station  30 years ago. 

Jeff was on duty on the 27th April 1983 when Keighley Fire Station attended an incident on Broomhill Walk,   a house fire in which 2 of the 5 children rescued died.  Jeff suffered horrific injuries at the incident  and died  aged 31 years ten weeks  later in Pinderfields Hospital , leaving two young children without a father. 

He was commended by the Queen for his bravery, an honour which was collected

 by his young son Mark the  year after. 

Fortunately, the death of fire fighters is a rare occurrence  31 firefighters have lost their lives in the execution of their duty in West Yorkshire, a roll of honour is listed below.

Leeds Brigade Memorial - courtesy of Mrs P  Leach 

It wouldn't have taken 10 minutes to compose a brief tribute to Jeff and post it, or maybe an outline of the events at Keighley on Saturday. Social media is a quick and easy way to transmit information to lots of people very quickly, and although this blog is usually written and published all in one fell swoop, it is possible to  programme it to release information at  certain  time  if we are not about to press PUBLISH. 

And nobody knows of the power  &  speed of social media more than the newest  Assistant Chief Officer Dave Walton. He has a twitter account   @ACOwestyorksfire  which we watch with interest. For example he spent Sunday having a look around Haworth, a spot of shopping perhaps, a pub lunch maybe?

Ever so slightly cultured afternoon stroll through #Howarth -home of the Brontes-liking this #Yorkshire thing twitter.com/ACOWestYorkFir…
— Dave Walton (@ACOWestYorkFire) April 28, 2013

BUT on   Friday 26th April  he attended the crash on the M62 which resulted in a death and several injuries. 

He tweeted he was on his way  12:04 PM (we do hope he wasnt driving) 

Am attending significant RTC on #m62 huge multi agency rescue underway
— Dave Walton (@ACOWestYorkFire) April 26, 2013

Then he tweeted he had arrived 12:52PM  

Initial rescue phase on #m62 now over.difficult scene for all agencies.good effort from fire, police & amb - more to do though
— Dave Walton (@ACOWestYorkFire) April 26, 2013

And then he started to organise his press statements

@skybod @skynews are you still looking for interview?
— Dave Walton (@ACOWestYorkFire) April 26, 2013

@johnnyianson @bbcleeds okay- doing on scene media at 1500. DM me a phone number
— Dave Walton (@ACOWestYorkFire) April 26, 2013

And then after a few Thank You's  - he left.

What a day that turned out to be!Thoughts with those affected by #m62 inc today.The poignancy of the hen trip & excitement adds to tragedy
— Dave Walton (@ACOWestYorkFire) April 26, 2013

Now we dont have a problem with him having a twitter account - but we aren't sure about him using it  to publicly  arrange press meetings and such (maybe thats a job for a discreet text or two)  and we most certainly arent convinced an Assistant Chief Fire Officer should use his account for telling the world about his  Sundays off.  Its either business or pleasure - not both!

We are of course familiar with the WYFRS social media policy - they reissued it to all staff  when this site started to become rather "popular" with WYFRS staff.  And in  that policy it states:-

"Access to social media and networking sites during paid working hours or usingAuthority facilities is strictly prohibited unless authorised at Director level for business purposes." 

We cant find any  paragraph that says its Ok to blog on a Sunday off  from what is essentially a company account. The "Views expressed are my own"  is interesting. Does that mean its a company account that is unregulated by WYFRS in which case surely he shouldn't be using it at shouts" or a company account which means he should NOT be using it for personal slightly cultured events!

Dave Walton

@ACOWestYorkFire

ACO with West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service. Tweeting about fire related issues. Views expressed are my own. In case of EMERGENCY always dial 999

West Yorkshire, UK · westyorksfire.gov.uk

We asked the Fire Brigades 

Union for their opinion  

"I'm saddened and disappointed to see that our Assistant Fire Officer found the time to update his Twitter account during operations at the tragic crash on the M62 on Friday. It's amazing that when WYFRA have a policy of "no phones" whilst at work, even if doing routine duties on station, Dave Walton thought it would be acceptable to organise Tv and Radio interviews via Twitter.

I have previously represented members who have broken the "Use of Social Media and Networking Sites Policy" one individual lost their temporary promotion position after being found to be in breach of the policy, but I'm not sure the same fate will be in store for ACO Walton."

David Williams  - WYFRS - Brigade Secretary 

SO WHAT CAN WE AT FCCL DO TO HELP 

JUST IN CASE YOU EVER NEED TO CONTACT  ACO DAVE WALTON 

(WHILST HE IS AT WORK )

HIS NUMBER IS  01274 655734 

Email Him by clicking   dave.walton@westyorksfire.gov.uk 

OR EVEN BETTER 

Why not contact the 

Senior Information and Communications Manager

Gayle Cogan

01274 655802   |   gayle.cogan@westyorksfire.gov.uk