Low Risk, High Price

In a matter of minutes

 KILLS

 and can 

turn you into one of these  

or  (if one of the FCCL team was involved )one of  these   really quickly................ 

Don't you think he has a look of BossHooch about him? 

But,  both of the above can  be prevented  by a teensy weensy addition to the family home of one or two of these

Sadly we have to report that a lady in Kippax died a few days ago  - she didn't have a smoke alarm.  

The incident postcode was LS25 7JE designated  by WYFRS own risk registers  a VERY LOW RISK area . 

Now the other thing to notice about this particular fire is the the time of the call to WYFRS 

5.16 PM

A time when people are about in the street, the nights are light and you would expect a fire to be  noticed fairly early on (the smokes a bit of a give away) 

This lady was rescued by crews from 

Castleford,   Rothwell   and   Garforth 

(3 engines for a persons reported housefire  remember) 

But sadly she  was pronounced dead at hospital  - we offer our sincere condolences to her family 

A report by the BBC can be found here and it seems the fire was caused by a discarded cigarette and also the property had no working smoke alarm.  Yet again this incident did not feature on the WYFRS incident log. 

Now the lady concerned WAS RESCUED ALIVE , BUT had this incident occured in January 2014 the scenario may have been different. From  then  Rothwell & Garforth will convert to the system of DAY CREWING.  This is when a station is staffed from 7am till 5pm, then the firefighters are at home ON CALL. 

So if they get a "shout" they have to leave home and get to the fire station - this takes 

5 minutes 

SO if this particular fire in a very low risk area had happened 10 months hence,  

2 of the three engines would have turned up 

5 minutes later than they did earlier this week. 

Yes we are happy that  Garforth and Rothwell were not closed completely - but what the fire authority Councillors failed to realise is that  day crewing actually significantly reduces cover and gives a much worse service  at arguably  the times (evenings) when cover is most needed. 

We wrote about the technical side of day crewing here in our post 

"So Whats New ? "-

it's an interesting read. 

Now,  we can excuse Councillors being 

un - knowledgeable about the  technical details 

of fire and rescue 

BUT 

these proposals were made by a chappie who is supposed to know what he is doing!!!!!

We have doubted his technical abilities before 

HERE                     

TITS

There are many types of tits. 
Some are quite rare these days as due to heavy use of pesticides and other chemicals reducing their food supply their numbers have diminished. 

BUT  - we are referring to NON OF THESE!

(but we reckon you guessed that) 

TIT's  in Fire & Rescue Terms can mean only one thing.............

TEST   IT   TUESDAY  

Launched in 2011 (we think) the Test it Tuesday campaign encourages people to test their smoke alarms on, yes you have probably guessed by now 

FCCL has started researching other Fire and Rescue websites and we think its a very fair comment to say that WYFRS site is DIRE. 

It seems to us that they do not wish to engage with the general public at any other level than in  an US and THEM situation. 

For example below is a video from  South Wales Fire  that demonstrates how fire fighters are prepared to make "idiots" of themselves to get a very pertinent point across. 

What do WYFRS say about smoke alarms - its here    and its very BORING, un engaging and dry.

Come on WYFRS you employ qualified professionals in your communications team, surely  they can come up with ways to engage the public in fire safety via social media .....................its gets to lots of people  (we can assert to that) is cheap to do and engages old and young alike.

BUT ........whoops, they do seem to have lost one key member of the comms  team, the one Cllr Brian Selby was slathering in praise how wonderful she was at her job , whilst in the same breath making digs at certain blogs and websites.

Hannah Stoneman, the 2012 IRMP consultation co-ordinator  who after her job was re profiled and about  £20k knocked off her "value" - voted with her feet and went to Yorkshire Water. Did she jump, was she pushed, we will never know?

Question : Does this mean she was over valued  in the first place?  As the  financial year has ended and the WYFRS accountants do their sums to prepare the annual accounts we await with interest to see if the number of people employed who earn £50k or over a year has decreased from last year. We even have a chartered accountant ready to give them the once over.


............. put it this way if they haven't , we will be very annoyed and will blog our disapproval                                                                                        accordingly. Fire fighters are losing jobs, staff being made redundant and  in our opinion senior staff should also be taking the hit.  Cos according to at least one little birdie pictured above 

"We are all in this together"

oh and just to let you know we have updated our union pages here   with Unison information and added a few extra links to our reading lists. 

Happy Browsing 

The FCCL Team. 

Not Yet Nigel

Today when you reset your clocks, West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue suggest you check your smoke alarm. 

BUT there are always a million reasons why you never do 

.................... 

Not yet  Nigel, its only 5 to 6,

I'm waiting for the Easter bun

To bring my chocolate fix

Not yet Nigel, there's such a lot to do

The rabbits chewed the carpet

So I've put them in stew

Not yet Nigel, its time to cook some lunch

But its not quite 11 yet

I think i'll call it "brunch"

Not yet Nigel, its time watch TV

Nigellas on and licking spoons

Food porn it is to me

Not yet Nigel, I'm off to B & Q

I'm British, on bank holidays

Its what the natives do

Not yet Nigel its time to make some tea

Shopping for shelves and gloss paint

Gives an appetite you see

Not yet Nigel, I'm tired and need a snooze

My feet up on the sofa

And I'll watch the evening news

Not yet Nigel,its time to go to bed

I've drunk too much  (of gin I think)

I have a pounding head!

Oh shit Nigel the house is burning down

I didn't check the smoke alarm

It didn't make a sound

I'm DEAD Nigel, whatever shall i do

I should have checked the batteries

like you had told me to

Tomorrow check your smoke alarm,

No go do it NOW!

Cos West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue

Need to get the risk rate down

SMOKE ALARMS LET YOU WATCH YOUR HOUSE BURN DOWN FROM THE OUTSIDE

(but contrary to what they will have youthink they don't reduce the risk of you having a fire - they just prevent you dying in it. 

Smoke Alarms or a Dog ?

We have had an  “We Told You So” weekend here at FCCL.

It is with great sadness we have to report the death of an elderly lady in Beeston, South Leeds. Joyce Williams who was in her 80s was involved in a house fire in Westbourne Place. 

The incident which took place around midnight on Saturday brings yet again one simple fact to the fore. A smoke alarm is only of use if people hear and respond to it. And in this case as detailed in the Yorkshire Evening Post   HERE   the neighbours ignored the alarm (even though they smelt smoke)  only when their windows started to heat up did they go outside and realise there was a fire in the house next door. 

This is the second time since we started this blog that this has been the case.  In Bradford Mr Brears  died when an alarm was disregarded by neighbours. For more information on this incident please click HERE   

Sadly by the time the fire fighters arrived at the fire in Beeston, Leeds on Saturday night  (incidentally from Morley and Hunslet stations)  it is thought the fire in the back to back house had been alight for several hours. For more information on back to back houses please click HERE 

We are not in a position to comment on how those neighbours must be feeling at the moment, we can only imagine  but we would like to point out several hard facts:- 

Both Morley and Hunslet stations were to be closed if the fire authority,  had it not been challenged by FCCL, the FBU and many others.  

Response times would increase regardless of what the figures say – just ask a fire fighter at Morley or Hunslet (but for heaven sake be discreet as we have known  sadly of people being victimised and harassed for supporting our cause). We sadly will  have to blog about this victimisation shortly as it involves a member of the FCCL team. 

A fire with persons involved requires the attendance of three pumps -   which at present is  adequately covered by Morley and Hunslet............ BUT after the cuts are implemented........ Hunslet is to lose a pump and Morley is to be day crewed (which we have talked about HERE). So at night, Morley  firefighters will have to get to the fire station first, which will add at least 5 mins to a  response time, then cant leave without a qualified driver and crew manager – so if there is a delay, bad weather, accident – What happens then?  

Well, we know the answer – people will die!

However - there was a house fire over the weekend  that resulted in some good news. 

In the early hours of Sunday morning crews from Gipton and Stanks attended a house fire in  Ramshead Gardens, Seacroft. The incident feed from WYFRS read like this 

House fire, ground floor of house involved, crews have used 1 hose reel and 4 breathing apparatus, 2 male adults, 2 female adults and 1 female child all suffered smoke inhalation and were transported to hospital by ambulance

But we know that it was the families Staffordshire Bull Terrier who saved the day, the dogs bark woke the family up and they  were able to alert the fire service.  Sadly we haven't been able to ascertain the dogs colour or age but we send it a virtual pat on the back from all of us here at FCCL. 

Of course we also send a pat on the back to the fire fighters at Gipton and Stanks (because at least  one or probably two of us here at FCCL consider them our favourite fire stations) - and yes we know we shouldn't really have favourites!!!!! but we do. 

So the question is 

do you install  a smoke alarm 

or do you buy a dog ? 

If you decide one, other or both is the correct answer please click on the following links

For a free home fire safety check from WYFRS 

please click  HERE

Miss Phoebe Four Paws 

And  if you really think a mans best friend is his dog - why not contact  the Dogs Trust HERE, we are not suggesting you replace a smoke alarm with a dog but you could try a spot of volunteering or a donation to a very worthy cause. 

Apologies but we are busy reading "stuff"

We have had several complaints about why we have not blogged as promised regarding reports presented to area committees.

This is because we have been blown off our tracks completely by some information that has dropped into the FCCL mailbox which requires us to study it carefully.

Normal service will be resumed Monday -----and in the meantime please do not forget that this time next week we will all be donning scarves and mittens to attend the Fire Brigades Union March and Rally setting off from outside Leeds Art Gallery at 12.30pm.

Further information about the FBU can be found HERE

Enjoy your weekend, dont forget to turn your clocks back Sunday morning AND check your smoke alarm




The FCCL Team

Should WYFRS buy 1,333 special smoke alarms a year instead of a Assistant Chief Fire Officer (or even 2)?

Hayley from Morley brought to our attention an article in the Fire Training News September Edition. It is about smoke detectors.

A smoke detector has been developed that sends its owner a text when it goes off.It does this by using standard GSM technology for mobile phones. This means it needs its own SIM card. There are moves afoot to develop a smoke detector that uses Wi-Fi. In this way it could send an email. Useful and far less expensive if you have a Smart phone. Many people may want to wait until the price drops
– it’s currently about £90 + SIM card.

NOW after we had stopped laughing - the thought of geting a text whilst you are on holiday did raise a few chuckles - (YOUR HOUSES IS ON FIRE . LOL. Smoke detector XXX)   this technology has some implications for in particular people who are deaf or maybe even for families who have elderly parents as no doubt the SMS message or email could be sent to multiple addresses to warn of danger.

And as to the £90 ---(£89.99 actually) --- if  WYFRS can replace ACOs at £120k each we reckon 1,333 of these smoke alarms may represent better value for money. And as the price of ACO's will no doubt increase year on year and the price of these drop - even better! And you can replace smoke alarms without paying them a pension. 


So how do smoke alarms work...........

BUT H's email raised another eyebrow too.....

It raised concern in the FCCL office as if you read one of our previous posts the consultation documents and processes have recently been succeeded by information about floods in being given "star billing" .

We at FCCL would have thought with the professional media  staff they have at WYFRS they would have thought to have added a direct hyper-link to the consultation pages and not just to the homepage for WYFRS embedded  in the Fire Training News Magazine. Does this mean that WYFRS are trying not to advertise the consultation? 

Yes we think it does! 

and if you would like to read other editions of the fire training newsletter they are available here

Back to Back - Basics

BACK TO BACK  - BASICS

Tonight we will concentrate on one type of incident - fires in back to back houses.

On the 23rd September there was a back to back house fire in  West Bowling Bradford. Which at strangely enough were BOTH appliances from Odsal. Why strange ? Because the proposals currently under consultation seem to think just one will be sufficient in future years.

And to quote the plans

"The areas covered by Odsal fire station are classified as very high risk overall but the distribution of risk varies in each ward and ranges from very high to very low"  

What we have noticed in all of the documents in respect of the IRMP is that nowhere in them do they say anything about the types of properties in an area - it is all just varying degrees of risk.

Without a doubt back to back houses are very high risk indeed, they were  BANNED in the early part of the 20th Century as they were considered a danger to life if they caught fire. East End Park and Harehills  in Inner East leeds have the highest concentrations of Back to Backs in Europe, which is a scary as soon the stations covering the area are going to be further away. And Gipton, Stanks, Moortown, Hunslet  and Garforth are all to close. And also they tend to be inhabited by poorer sections of the community which again significantly  increases the risk of fire.
You could have several smoke alarms in these types of houses but the bottom line is they only have one door - so if the fire is blocking your exit  you are basically  STUFFED. That is until of course a fire fighter comes along to rescue you. With increased  reponse times, less appliances and of course you would have to be blind (or very rich and naive maybe!) not to have noticed poverty is increasing at an alarming rate and you have many accidents waiting to happen.


It  is basic physics - heat rises as does smoke and 9/10  its the smoke that kills you way, way before the fire does.

And in a back to back house - the only way is up when the heat is on!