december 2013

Keeping Fire and Rescue Service Personnel Informed Review of the Year Welcome to this festive edition of the Alert. It has been a challenging and yet rewarding year. We would like to thank staff and volunteers for their continued hard work and commitment. Wishing everyone a happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year. Paul Hancock, Chief Fire Officer Cllr John Joyce, Chair of Cheshire Fire Authority

January - The year began with a visit to Manchester Pride was again well premiere of a series of road safety films attended. by Cheshire Fire Cadets in memory of September - We joined forces with their friend and fellow Congleton Cadet Cheshire Police to host an action- Hayley Bates. We also celebrated after packed day of fun at their making it into Stonewall’s guide to the headquarters. New messaging systems UK’s top100 lesbian, gay, bisexual and were launched which allow people to transgender friendly employers. stay better informed about what we are up to. February - Fifteen-year-old Crewe June - This was a busy month for October - Older Persons’ Day took Fire Cadet Megan Shields triumphed at staff across the Service. There was a the Crewe and Nantwich Community major training exercise at the Halliwell place with staff across the orgaisation Awards after being nominated for Jones Stadium in . We taking part in a range of events and Young Person of the Year. enjoyed two successful days at the initiatives including an event at March - The Long Service Good Cheshire Show and recognised the Winsford where over 60 residents were Conduct and 20 years Continuous STARS of our organisation during our welcomed and treated to a VIP tour. Service Medal ceremony took place annual awards ceremony. November - We worked with the with Lord Lieutenant David Briggs July - In response to the number of Manchester Camerata and the Philip presenting 24 staff with their awards. grill pan fires, the community safety Barker Charity to put on a performance April - The ‘Managing Banter’ initiative ‘Dirty Grills Kill’ was launched of ‘Tinderbox’ at Chester Cathedral. conferences featuring guest speakers at the Runcorn Open Day. This involved firefighters and school children who created a dramatic opera Ben Cohen MBE, founder of the Stand August - Community Fire Protection around the safety of fire. Up Foundation and launched the ‘ Logbook’ in a December - The outpouring of comedian bid to help local businesses with fire Laurence Clark safety legislation. Meanwhile our annual support for the Service’s performance proved a success on choirmaster Gareth Malone’s this month with new series of ‘Sing While You over 100 people Work’ continued as they attending. performed at the ninth joint May - The Service opened the new Emergency Service Christmas ‘The Healthy Hearts Gym’ at Runcorn Carol Concert, held in Fire Station to assist those with front of a capacity cardiac-related illnesses. Crews also audience in Chester dealt with a serious fire at the Widnes Cathedral. Recycling Company. I PLUS N Winter Safety & S Life I Saving Awards D Winsford in good People who help Musical safety Gold galore - E spirit - Pg4 us - Pg7 message - pg13 pg16 Centre Pages alert 2 dec • 2013 Blue Watch scores with safety advice

On Saturday 2 November, Blue Watch visited Crewe Alexandra football ground. ‘Alex’ were playing Bradford City and with the amount of local and away fans attending it was thought to be a wonderful opportunity to promote road safety and arson prevention. Several displays were setup outside the front of the ground to show the consequences of careless and dangerous driving utilising the Think! car which was involved in an actual collision between Crewe and Nantwich. n Firefighters and volunteers with ‘Gresty’ and a display vehicle Two other displays showed the aftermath and consequences of arson vehicles and then explained the actual Even mascot ‘Gresty’ paid a visit involving a wheelie bin and another average cost to the community of and announced to the crowds, “To all vehicle. each incident. Firefighters and our supporters we hope you loved the community fire safety volunteers were display and drive home safely.” For We used ‘hot deals’ and there for several hours providing football fans - the game ended 0-0. 'smashing prices’ signs on top of the information to the public. Action in John turns back the years Wharton 91 year-old John Blanchard visited Warrington Fire Station on 28 November. John was a fireman at Joseph Crosfield Ltd and used to drive our vintage Winsford firefighters and Dennis F1 fire engine when it was in service at the Crosfield works in Warrington. Community Fire safety teams Barrie Green from Warrington Community Fire Safety took John into the engine have worked alongside partner house and he had a look at his old means of transport. Barrie is a keen collector agencies to drive down the of fire service memorabilia and had a couple of photos of the appliance when it number of anti-social incidents was in service at Crosfield’s and was able to show John the one he had. in the Wharton area of Winsford. He immediately recognised himself as the firefighter at the wheel! Wharton historically has a high He was delighted to be reunited with his old engine and was even more so number of fire related incidents of when he was taken out for a short drive. anti-social behaviour in the run up to Bonfire Night. Therefore firefighters and staff from the community fire safety department teamed up with Cheshire West and Chester Council, Weavervale Housing Trust, CLAW community group and Street Scene to hold an impact day during the run up to November 5. More than 600 houses were visited with some really positive comments and feedback from residents received, supporting this proactive approach. The number of incidents in the area dropped this year compared n John before and after at the wheel of his beloved to last year. Dennis F1 dec • 2013 3 alert Clearing the way Knutsford A determined Prince’s Trust Team from Widnes helped Impact Day Farnworth Primary School by making a start on creating their Forest Schools project. At a recent Impact Day in Knutsford members of the The scale of the project had proved too daunting for business community were happy to receive safety some but Team 51 knew that although they might not be information and talk about heritage protection. able to finish the project, they would at least make a good start. In addition to the fire safety audits completed by inspecting officers and the heritage business safety advice They set about clearing the overgrown area before the provided by the team, the event also involved the main work of laying paths and clearing the area that would operational crews who used the event to check provision for eventually become a new outdoor ‘classroom’ took place. firefighting at the same time as being a recognisable The team started in earnest with only hand tools, presence in the town centre. The event has also been of rubbish bags and a whole lot of enthusiasm. After the first great benefit in updating information on premises. morning and many bags of rubbish cleared they had barely left their mark but, as days passed, the clearing became bigger and the ‘classroom’ area became evident.

n Business Safety advocates Sandra and Sarah with Councillor Bill Livesley at the Knutsford Impact event Watch Manager Gary Simpson said: “The team worked so hard they changed the perception of many and they have helped the Watch in supporting the Phoenix project within the school and all this has had such a positive Scout visit to station impact in the local area.” Warrington firefighters on Green Watch were pleased to With a pathway and the ‘classroom’ area cleared the have the 15th Warrington West Scout group come to team then had to make a decision of what they would put the station for a visit. down on the paths and after many phone calls were offered 100 tonnes of garden bark but with one catch - They were given a comprehensive tour of the station they had to transport it themselves. So with bags, bins, along with detailed explanations of how the fire and rescue buckets and a trailer approximately 12 tonnes of bark was service operates. Fire safety advice was given to the scouts transported from Runcorn to the project. and leaders and they all left the station with a greater understanding of the workings of the modern service. The launch of the project came around very quickly with a grand opening which was attended by the Mayor of Halton Cllr Margaret Ratcliffe. Since the opening the forest has been regularly used by a number of local schools.

The Team with Mayor Margaret Ratcliffe and Gary Simpson n Firefighter Dawn Morris showed the scouts the fire engine and Red Watch Widnes at the grand opening of the forest n Matt Hancock gave scouts an insight to the rescue boat classroom alert 4 dec • 2013 Sam visits with his friends

Firefighters from Macclesfield were invited to accompany Fireman Sam during a visit to Macclesfield town centre. The aim of the event was to create an interactive way of promoting fire and road safety and there was also the chance for the community to get an insight into what Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service offers by speaking with firefighters. This also included trying on fire kit and looking at various pieces of equipment. The event was a great success and thoroughly enjoyed by all those who attended, but the real head turner was guest of honour Fireman Sam. A big ‘thank you’ to staff involved for all the hard work.

Forensics visit fire station

Warrington’s Green Watch had a and were also shown hard hitting visit from Warrington Collegiate’s videos relating to road safety. forensic science department. As Firefighters also explained their part of their second year the approach to scene preservation in students study both traffic and fire both road traffic collisions and fire investigations. situations. The students enjoyed their They felt that a visit to their local visit so much and showed such a fire station would be helpful and keen interest that they plan to return at informative where they were shown a later stage in their course. n Firefighter Anthony Agnew with the equipment that the fire service use students from the Collegiate CRMZ diversity event

Widnes’ Blue Watch attended ‘CRMZ’, Halton's state-of-the-art youth hub, for a community awareness/educational day organised by Catch 22, the team responsible for the universal youth provision in the Halton area. This event was organised as part of Black History Month and aimed to discuss and break down the barriers between people across the community. The event was attended by more than 50 people..

n Firefighter Pat McBride showing the appliance to the young people of Halton Christmas Safety The community of Winsford got into the spirit of Christmas with a little help from local firefighters. Armed with Santa hats, a Christmas tree and ‘Smokey’ the smoke alarm mascot, crews delivered Christmas safety information with festive cheer in the local shopping precinct. The main objectives of the initiative were firstly to remind everyone to test their smoke detectors when they put up Christmas decorations and also to be mindful not to overload electric sockets, a common mistake during the festive period. The display made use of the electrical safety display board and issued multi-way adapters to at risk groups. dec • 2013 5 alert Cineworld premiere IN BRIEF Cadet’s road safety film BONFIRE NIGHT The red carpet was rolled out for SAFETY Cheshire Fire Cadets after a road Red Watch visited St Benedict’s safety film was premiered at school in Warrington to give a Cineworld in Runcorn. safety talk to nearly a hundred Cadets based at Runcorn Fire children on the dangers of Station directed, starred in and fireworks and bonfires. Ex-pupil produced a three minute film which Tom Shaw who is now the safety highlights the dangers young people officer at the school contacted the face while driving on the road. Watch and asked them to help out. Cineworld in Runcorn kindly agreed to The spent the morning show the film as a trailer on all at the school with the crew showings of 15 and over films over one night recently, with the important speaking about key safety issues message delivered to numerous and also showing the pupils around audiences on the night. the equipment. The idea of creating a film came about following a Cadet road safety injured or killed then the Cadets hard initiative which was to produce a road work and determination will have paid SANTA’S LITTLE safety tool that could be used to off.” HELPERS reduce the number of people killed or Cineworld General Manager Paul Barrie Green from Warrington’s seriously injured in Cheshire. O’Prey said: “Cineworld was happy to Community Fire Safety department be able to assist Cheshire Fire Cadets The film entitled “Had a drink? and his wife Barbara helped out in delivering this important road safety Think don’t drive” shows a road traffic Santa during his run out to turn the message to the local community.” collision created by young people for Christmas lights on in as young people in response to the tragic To further illustrate the dangers of Rudolf and his friends were having death of Congleton Fire Cadet Hayley drink driving there was also a vehicle a well deserved night off. Bates from Biddulph who was on display in which a young driver lost involved in a fatal road traffic collision his life. His family donated the vehicle The vintage fire engine transported in September 2010. – now known as the ‘Think Car’ to Santa and his helpers into the village on a freezing cold night. Runcorn Crew Manager Phil demonstrate the very real and tragic Maybe Rudolf had the right idea to Bishop who co-ordinated the event consequences of drink/drug driving said: “The Cadets worked really hard with the hope that it will prevent stay warm inside. on producing the film and were thrilled another family having to go through to see it on the big screen. Cineworld what they have and how life can has been instrumental in helping get a change for a family at the turn of a road safety message out to young wheel. people in the Halton area. The film can be seen on the “If by showing this film it stops website - www.cheshirefire.gov.uk more young people being seriously /home/news/events

DRIVING DEMONSTRATION At the Annual General Meeting of the Approved Driving Instructors, Frodsham were invited to demonstrate the techniques they n Left to right; Crew Manager Phil Bishop with Runcorn Station Manager Sean Henshaw, Cineworld General Manager Paul O'Prey, Vice Chair of Cheshire Fire Authority Stef use during road traffic collisions. Nelson, Head of Service Delivery Terry McDermott and Cheshire Fire Cadet Leader Jakub Boote alert 6 dec • 2013 Creating an oasis

The Prince's Trust Team 63 helped enhance the outdoor space at the Oasis Youth Centre in Ellesmere Port as part of their 12 week course. The project was to create a picnic and relaxing area for the users of the centre to enjoy. Team 63 all worked extremely hard levelling a large area ready to lay 90 flagstones for a patio. They also built and painted flower boxes and a pergola and weeded the area to the front of the centre and re-pointed it. Finally they planted flowers and painted and secured two benches to the patio area. It is hoped that this outdoor space will be used by a wide range of the community including the elderly and those with disabilities.

Special thanks go to all members of the community for n PTT members with Mayor of Ellesmere Port Cllr Bob Crompton their help and support throughout, especially ASDA, at the opening ceremony: Kyren Latham, Joseph Barrett, Cheshire West and Chester Streetscene, Brandon Hire, George Davies, Jack McDonald, Ruth Wardle, Matthew Travis Perkins Trading and all at the Oasis Youth Centre. Richardson, Steven Flinn, Faye Morris, Antony Worrall, Gary Hunter and Brian Seal Stepping Out

Congratulations to those • The total number of who put their best foot combined steps by all 77 forward and completed participants over the 16- this year’s Global week challenge was Corporate Challenge. 121,559,418. 77 participants took part • The total distance in the 16-week GCC covered by participants challenge to complete was 77,798 km – This 10,000 steps per day for equates to walking around 16 weeks. the world 1.94 times. • The average distance Founded in 2003, the covered by participants Global Corporate Challenge each day was 9.07 km. is in its tenth year as the world's leading and largest • The average energy corporate health initiative of burnt per day by each its kind. participant was 572 calories. Over a million people across 3,400 organisations The most active team in 158 countries have was The Red Controllers benefited from the GCC, who travelled 8,357 km in and each year, more and 16-weeks. This team more make the GCC a comprised; Pat Gallagher, cornerstone of their Christine Sheridan, Isobel commitment to workplace Callanan, Sherri Kitson, 1. The Red Controllers – distance travelled 8,357 km. health and wellbeing Fiona Smith, Wayne Francis and Mandy Liffen. 2. Pages Pacers – distance travelled 8,288 km. There were 11 teams 3. P&P Striders – distance travelled 8,003 km. taking part from the The individual award for 4. Hot heels – distance travelled 7,845 km. Service. They managed to the challenge goes to 5. Tim's Trotters – distance travelled 7,431 km. achieve some impressive Station Manager Ian West 6. Magnificent Seven – distance travelled 6,794 km. statistics, the highlights of who walked, swam and 7. Y walk when u can run – distance travelled 6,735 km. which are detailed below: cycled his way to achieving 8. Safety Striders! – distance travelled 6,625 km. a very impressive 9. Shears Determination – distance travelled 6,022 km. • The daily step average 3,009,687 steps. 10. HR Hot Footers – distance travelled 5,933 km. by staff here at Cheshire 11. Cheshire Fire Service Delivery – distance travelled 5,765 Fire and Rescue Service km. was 14,177. dec • 2013 7 alert Music to our ears People who help us Ellesmere Port’s Community Gym has had a boost Astbury Saint Mary’s C of E Primary School reception thanks to funds raised by a generous member of the class invited A Watch firefighters to attend the school to community. help with their 'people who help us’ topic. Following Kim Stevenson’s triple heart bypass operation The Watch also played host to 30 children and five she managed to raise £300 with a charity raffle. The teachers from Buglawton Primary School as part of the proceeds were used to purchase a sound system and a same topic. They came to the fire station for a look around new 32” TV for the community gym based at Ellesmere Port the engine and had a go at squirting water. Fire Station. The gym is used by both local cardiac rehab patients and fire and rescue staff based at Ellesmere Port. Kim is one of the gym’s regular users. Firefighter, Clare Page said: “It is hoped that the television and sound system will aid recovery by making the experience of exercise more fun for all users at the gym. This includes both local cardiac rehabilitation patients and fire and rescue staff.”

n Children from Astbury Saint Mary’s Addaction team ‘give something n Beryl from Wirral Heartstart NHS, Kim Stevenson and Jayne (a representative from Asda) together with White Watch: Firefighters Clare Page and Paul Slack and Crew Manager Andy back’ Gray. Firefighter Paul Bradley is in the driving seat. Blue watch Widnes attended Upton Community Centre for the 'Give Something back' event organised by the ‘Addaction’ team. Victoria Park The event was attended by more than 150 young people. Fire crews engaged with the attendees by giving experience chip pan fire demonstrations and handing out general fire safety information. Red Watch Warrington attended the fun day in Victoria The event involved some young people who had been Park. Also attending were the Police, Warrington issued with anti-social behaviour orders and they were Wolves, a local Taekwondo club, together with other tasked with organising some of the day’s events. partner agencies. The aim was to provide a fun day based around educational activities for young people in the Warrington area. Attendees were shown around the fire engine and told about how the equipment is used.

n The crowds watching the demonstrations alert 8 dec • 2013 Winter safety event reaches out across the county

Firefighters throughout the county met with members of the public and gave valuable road safety advice and handed out numerous leaflets during the annual winter road safety event. Safety advice related to mobile phone use, tyre safety, drink and drug driving awareness, winter driving and also preparing vehicles for the colder months. Crews also gave out keyrings and ice scrapers. Over 3,100 people were engaged throughout the county and over 625 vehicles were checked, more than trebling last year’s figures. n Fire crews giving safety advice and ice scrapers to lucky drivers in Congleton

n Firefighters and Cheshire Fire Authority member Cllr Stef Nelson giving winter driving safety advice to shoppers at Runcorn’s Asda car park. Over 200 drivers were given advice with over ten drivers advised that their tyres needed urgent attention. n Birchwood firefighters at Birchwood Business Park set up the driving simulator to show visitors how easily you can become distracted by mobile phones.

n Northwich B Watch at Evans Halshaw car dealership during the ladies winter safety event with teams from Cheshire Police, Cheshire West and Chester and local n Watch Manager Jason Lyth with Firefighter businesses. Stuart Annis handing out information leaflets and key rings to motorists to drive home the road safety messages.

n Red Watch Chester visited car parks which are well known to the local police for anti-social behaviour from n attended Alderley Edge School for Girls sixth form young drivers. The crew then gave advice and safe pupils to talk to 60 pupils regarding the dangers of Drink and driving leaflets to the drivers for over two hours late at Drug driving. The Watch handed out ‘goodies’ which went night. Crew Manager Mattie Davies speaks to a driver down well with the pupils. The following day it was the turn of and passenger at the Greyhound Retail Park in Chester. Marks and Spencer's and Tesco's in Handforth where more ‘goodies’ and leaflets were handed out to over 200 visitors. dec • 2013 9 alert Chief’s commendation for crews Watches from Widnes, Runcorn and Macclesfield along with Helen Oulton from Control have been presented with the Chief’s Commendation in recognition of two outstanding performances that in both cases saved lives. Crews from Blue Watch in Runcorn and Widnes (pictured right) were recognised alongside colleagues from the Police and Ambulance Service for their involvement in an incident on the Queensway Bridge back in June. Macclesfield rescue firefighters Pete Nield, James Millward, A woman had attempted to jump Jon Stockley and Paul Carrington. off the bridge but was caught by two Just after 7pm control operator Police Officers, who showed great Helen Oulton received a 999 call from As soon as they were at the scene determination and strength to prevent a man who was clearly in distress, they set to work on getting into the her from falling several hundred feet to informing her that he was trapped in property so that they could rescue the the water below. They were soon his bedroom and his house was on man trapped inside. This crew battled joined by a paramedic who helped the fire. with some difficult circumstances to two officers hold on to the woman. both fight the flames and get to the Using all of her skills Helen trapped man who was in an upstairs When the crews from Runcorn and managed to reassure the occupant bedroom. Widnes arrived they immediately while at the same time obtain vital recognised the danger that both the information to pass on to the fire The second fire engine from woman and those attempting to crews who were now en-route. Macclesfield was also at the scene rescue her were in. with a crew of four consisting of Crew This took immense resilience as Manager Tim Welch along with the man trapped in the house was firefighters Houghton, Rowley and finding it difficult to breathe and follow Spencer. They pitched a ladder to the It gave me the survival instructions Helen was first floor window to assist with the giving him to improve his chance of rescue of the casualty who was great pride survival. passed through the window by the While Helen remained on the crews inside. to present phone line with the trapped occupant The man was then passed to the three appliances where mobilised to care of the ambulance service, waiting the incident, two from Macclesfield below. these and one from Poynton. Chief Fire Officer, Paul Hancock, awards. While they were on the way the said: “It gave me great pride to Officer in Charge, Crew Manager Dave present these awards. The selfless Jackson, received an update from the courage and determination shown by ‘Crew Manager, Paul Rostance, fire control room on the location and those involved were in the best took charge of the scene, quickly condition of the casualty, which traditions of the Cheshire Fire and assessing what needed to be done to assisted him considering his initial Rescue Service and they should be ensure the safety of all involved. actions and his briefing of the crew commended for their actions and Height safety equipment was set up to en-route. His crew consisted of bravery”. allow fire crews to get to the woman on the river side of the bridge. Firefighters Tony Hughes, Chris Cook, Ian Sibert, Carl Thomas, Mike Hopley and Paul Daniels worked quickly and efficiently to deploy Darren Tennent over the bridge to rescue the woman, which he did successfully in very difficult circumstances. It is without doubt that the efforts and professionalism of the emergency services involved in this incident saved the woman’s life. alert 10 dec • 2013 IN THE

Command & Control Unit Vehicle

In this edition of the Alert we are Firefighters based at Northwich, putting the spotlight on the who have been heavily involved with Chair of Cheshire Fire Authority, Cllr Service’s new Command Unit. the project from the start, have had John Joyce, officially cut the ribbon on training to use the new Unit. the Command Unit after the Authority’s The vehicle, which will be based at December meeting. Northwich Fire Station, was once the “It was important that staff were Community Roadshow Vehicle. It has involved in the development of this Keep an eye on the Service’s undergone a complete transformation Unit, their input was vital in creating internet for video feature showcasing to create a state-of the-art response something that was better than what the new Unit, which should be vehicle that will enhance the way we had gone before,” adds Steve. “We available from February. deal with incidents. spent a lot of time looking at the issues we had in the past with our systems and what other services were using. This helped us develop something that will be quicker to deploy and more effective at providing tactical and strategic support to the crews and officers at the incident ground.” “I would like to thank the project team for their commitment and valued Group Manager, Steve Barnes, who contribution in delivering an advanced led the project team, explains, “This is command support facility” a really exciting addition to our fleet that will provide a greater level of control and coordination at incidents.” Some of the additional features installed on the vehicle include: • Enhanced ICT systems • Satellite communications • 3G and 4G capability • Vector Command Support • Both pole mounted and body cameras • Specific areas for command staff plus an area for multi-agency briefings if required. Expo for local businesses A recent Business Expo held in Winsford by the 1-5 Improvement Group was attended by Community Fire Protection (CFP) who interacted with more than 50 local organisations. The CFP team delivered packs of fire safety advice, covering electrical safety, arson prevention, heritage protection and Crimestoppers. The event was opened by local Member of Parliament, Stephen O’Brien.

n Local MP Stephen O’Brien and Business Safety Manager Mandy Eeles dec • 2013 11 alert Crewe Street Sport THANKS

Firefighters from Crewe Fire Station were asked if they could attend various street sports activities to assist with the organisation of activities led by MACCLESFIELD Council. & POYNTON ‘Street Sports’ is managed and delivered by the Cheshire East Council Leisure and Development Team, aiming to promote positive behaviour by engaging young FIREFIGHTERS people in structured sport and play activities using facilities within their local community, all free of charge. In June I had a road accident out s{ide Shrigley Hall at Pott Shrigley There were a variety of sports planned in the sessions including American and I would like to thank the football, dodgeball, tag rugby, basketball, volleyball, pool and tennis. All of the firefighters who came to my rescue, activities were a great success resulting in feedback being positive. A total of 73 especially Pete who helped and young people aged between five and 16 attended these days. stayed with me, talking me through Since Street Sports began in Cheshire more than 40 organisations have everything as they were cutting me worked in partnership to deliver the programme. Discussions with participants out of my car. | stated 100% wanted the Street Sports Sessions to continue in the future. POPPY APPEAL The Royal British Legion sent a ‘thank you’ to all staff and customers as £75 was raised in the recent poppy sale at Headquarters. WELCOME VISIT Thank you so much for the f{antastic visit to the Arches Primary School in Blacon. The children had a fantastic time. What they don't even realise is that it's had a great impact on their learning too! They Sprinter to the rescue couldn't wait to tell me all about it - what shape the air tanks were and A Mercedes Benz Sprinter has Northwich for another 'person in how the hose worked. We are made a welcome return to water' incident where a car was found going to give them some big boxes Warrington Fire Station - not as the submerged in a local river. Again, to use outside so that they can previous hazardous material vehicle another search was carried out with build their own fire engines. but now as the new boat pull the aid of the police search helicopter. Thank you again, we know how vehicle. Thankfully on both occasions they busy you are. You have made 25 It was with great relish that Red turned out to be false alarms. children very happy! Watch swapped over the vehicles, However on its arrival here at | removing all equipment from the Ford Warrington, the Sprinter has certainly Ranger and placing them onto the hit the ground running - or should that SANDSTONE new shelving in the Sprinter including, be sprinting! SCOUTS for the first time, all drysuits and boots normally kept on station. However, just Thank you and Red Watch for as the last pair of specialist water a{llowing our Scouts from 1st rescue boots were being placed on Sandstone Scout Group to visit the the shelf the station alarms bells went Fire Station. Both the young people for none other than an incident of a and the adults were most 'person in the water'. impressed by both the range of the equipment and the variety of What then proceeded was a multi- scenarios that the Service deals agency search of the River Mersey in with. The RTC demonstration the heart of Warrington, with six rescue was a major talking point all different agencies including the Fire the way home! and Rescue Service, paramedics, police, search helicopter and the Learning about fire safety from Coast Guard. experts is likely to be absorbed by them so much more effectively than if Less than 12 hours later, the they hear the same words from us. vehicle was called out again to | alert 12 dec • 2013 CFRS goes mobile IN BRIEF The Service has launched a new mobile site for mobile and tablet NANTWICH IN users. BLOOM The user-friendly mobile site, For the second year running designed specifically for mobile Nantwich firefighters have collected devices such as smartphones, allows the prestigious runner-up title in the visitors to browse the latest incidents and keep up-to-date with news from ‘Nantwich in Bloom’ competition, the Service whilst on-the-go in an easy due mainly to the time and effort of view mobile format. Des Evans. Ecomms Manager, Caroline Jones said: “We want our mobile and tablet readers to have the best possible experience when using our website on speed. The aim is to provide the best smaller screens. After several months experience for reading site content, of development, we are delighted to whatever the device. It is a major first announce the launch of our new step towards that responsive goal, responsive mobile website. currently optimised for smaller screens “The site has been optimised so smartphones and tablets up to seven that users can access information inches. If visiting the site on an iPad or LUCKY ESCAPE about incidents, news, jobs and anything larger, users will be directed Fire crews were called to an contact details quickly on their mobile to the desktop site. address in Ellesmere Port late at devices at the push of a button.” The Service would appreciate night, as Deputy the puppy had The mobile site has a very simple, feedback from mobile site users and become entangled in the basic, clear layout and has been are asking people to visit the link at the mechanism of a reclining sofa. rebuilt, focusing on improving user bottom of the mobile site home page With his head firmly trapped and an experience, reliability and download to give their views. RSPCA officer in attendance crews set about rescuing the little puppy. To the delight of the owner this was done without causing any damage ‘Green and Clean’ Crewe to the furniture. Following an increase in the number of deliberate fires, crews from Crewe Fire Station attended a community initiative called ‘Green and Clean’. The week-long scheme spearheaded by local housing association Wulvern Housing saw a wide range of activities take place in and around the area of Claughton Avenue. The multi agency initiative brought together representatives from Cheshire Police, the YMCA, and Cheshire East Council to team up with Wulvern Housing and Green and Red Watch staff in order to help raise awareness of various safety and environmental issues. CONGLETON Green Watch delivered a number of Home Safety Assessments and dropped CHIMNEY SAFETY 250 safety leaflets about cooking safety, as well as advice on bin and car fires to Congleton’s A Watch set up a all houses on the Avenue. The event was a great success and will go some way to display at the town’s Tesco store to providing information for a safer local community. highlight the dangers during Chimney Fire Safety week. Crews engaged with more than 170 local residents and handed out leaflets and gave advice. dec • 2013 13 alert Praise for inspiring musical drama

Chester Cathedral on the lives of young provided a dramatic people and their families.” backdrop for an A composer, dramatist inspirational performance and musicians from that highlighted the Manchester Camerata dangers of arson and along with firefighters from hoax calls. Chester and student The Service, The Philip teachers from the University Barker Trust and of Chester worked with the Manchester Camerata pupils to explore the joined forces to create the themes of anti-social piece entitled ‘Tinderbox,’ behaviour, hoax calls and which featured pupils from deliberate fires. The three Chester schools. children performed their Service for delivering such Prometheus, played by new work on Thursday 21 an inspiring performance. Chester Crew Manager, Ant Deputy Chief Fire November, with firefighters The careful planning and McCarthy. He stole fire from Officer, Mark Cashin, said: enacting a rescue with attention to detail; the Zeus, giving it to the “It was a real privilege to smoke and ladders actually confident, cheerful and mortals and then witnessed work in partnership with the inside the cathedral! enthusiastic style of how humans misused and Manchester Camerata and working; and the sense of disrespected it. the Philip Barker Trust to Sir Edmund Burton, of energy and commitment; all create what was a special the Philip Barker Charity The three schools inspired the young people event. It is through projects said: “On behalf of the involved were Chester Blue and will be an enduring such as this that we have Trustees I would like to Coat CE Primary School, experience for them.” been able to promote thank and congratulate Lache Primary School and safety in an innovative way Manchester Camerata and The musical drama was Belgrave Primary School. and have a positive impact Cheshire Fire and Rescue based on a story about Staff plug Electrical Safety Week The Service was most proactive during the autumn Electrical Safety Week with a number of stations involved with local initiatives. Crewe firefighters attended a coffee morning for the members of the Crewe Senior Forum at a local church, the purpose being to inform older residents of the importance of electrical safety in the home and the crew used visual aids with examples of what can happen if you take risks with electrical safety. Over 60 people attended and all confirmed that they had a working smoke alarm in their property. Both crews from n Green Watch engaging with older residents Warrington actively took part in Electrical Safety Week and targeted local stores B&Q and Currys where the majority of were handed out together with a short questionnaire with a electrical equipment is purchased in the area. free draw for the prize of a deep fat fryer. Crews spoke to customers regarding their electrical The electrical safety event organised in Winsford town household and business items and gave out safety leaflets centre enabled firefighters to engage with the community to take back home. A fire engine also visited an organised with the primary objective of highlighting the risks of Macmillan coffee morning to speak to attendees on property fires caused by electrical appliances, extension electrical safety issues. leads and overloaded sockets. A table was set up in the Blue Watch from Runcorn visited both Asda and Currys precinct to use as a focal point where a display of scenes of in the town, handing out safety leaflets to members of the operational incidents caused by electrical appliances community with both stores being more than willing to showed the devastation of the damage that can be caused. participate in this initiative. Meanwhile Widnes firefighters Also displayed were examples of poor use of extension went to Widnes Shopping Park and Gala Bingo for evening leads and adaptors. sessions offering safety advice and handing out leaflets. Around 300 members of the public were offered advice. Red Watch also attended Green Oaks Shopping Centre The Electrical Safety Week was a complete success promoting both electrical and cooker fire safety. Leaflets throughout the county with the public taking an active interest in all the advice offered. alert 14 dec • 2013 Arrivals New starters KEVIN O’NEILL DARREN JONES Kev is a store manager at Motorworld and Darren used to be in the Forces and now is an on-call firefighter at Runcorn. works as transport manager for Rock Oil in Warrington. He is an on-call firefighter at Runcorn.

RYAN COOK JAYNE DYMOND Ryan has recently graduated with a fire Jayne was on a temporary contract with and leadership degree and now joins us the Service in L&D and now has a as an on-call firefighter at Birchwood. permanent role as Admin Assistant in the OPA Department. Before that she worked for Cheshire West and Chester Council as an Administrator.

MATTHEW PEDEN LAURA LYNCH Matthew works for private health Laura is no stranger to CFRS as she insurance firm Bupa as a Compliance worked in HR on a temporary contract. Analyst and is an on-call firefighter at She now is employed on a permanent Runcorn. basis in the OPA department.

MARTIN GEER VICTORIA WREST Martin joined the Service after relocating Vicky has joined us as the Cadet Manager with his family and works in Chester. based at Headquarters. Previously she Martin was a serving on-call firefighter for worked for over five years at Merseyside Kent Fire and Rescue having served over Youth Association as a mental health 20 years and is now on-call at Frodsham. promotion trainer.

WAYNE SMITH Wayne is a caretaker at a local school, The Fallibroome Academy and is an on- call firefighter at Macclesfield.

Farewells Leavers Susan Care Macclesfield 7 yrs 10 mths Elaine Edwardson SHQ 8 Nov 2 yrs 8 mths Simon Booth SHQ 1 Nov 10 yrs 3 mths FF Michael Walker Wilmslow 8 Nov 4 yrs 2 mths Nicholas Hulme SHQ 1 Nov 3 yrs

Retirements SM Ian Swan Crewe 20 Oct 29 yrs 11 mths Sylvia Proctor SHQ 31 Oct 23 yrs 9 mths CM Glenn Young Stockton Heath 24 Oct 28 yrs FF Andrew Price Birchwood 1 Dec 30 yrs FF Mark Davies Ellesmere Port 1 Oct 16 yrs 6 mths

Do you have any comments or suggestions for future Be editions of the Alert? If so call the Service’s Corporate Communications team on 01606 868786 or email Alert! corporatecommunications@cheshirefire.gov.uk dec • 2013 15 alert Ian embraces the Movember movement

Station Manager Ian Kay was one of many in the Service who followed the annual ‘Movember’ movement when upper facial hair is proudly displayed highlighting the dangers of prostate cancer. Ian really inspired his team in the Warrington and Halton Community Fire Protection office,so much so that for their weekly office meeting the other members of the team showed their support by ‘showing off’ their ‘taches. After only two hours all the team had a greater appreciation of what Ian has had to put up with for the whole month. He has so far raised in excess of £75 for Prostate Cancer Research. n Watch Manager Lee McGarity, Temp Fire Safety Officers Janet Jameson, Julie Fitzpatrick, Stuart Hurst and Station Manager Ian Kay Crewe’s event for National Disability Week A fire engine went to Crewe Alex Football Club ground to support an event for National Disability Week. Equality and Diversity Officer Erin Fulton also attended and more than 100 people with various disabilities were given advice on safety in the home. Information was passed to partner agencies and the event involved a presentation from various organisations including the NHS, Social Services and Cheshire East council, each offering services and support.

n Firefighters and visitors to Crewe Alex Football ground Crossfit championships Super Bike Ellesmere Port firefighter Shane Although Shane’s team came Williams achieved a place in the third, he managed to defeat all- show Welsh National Crossfit team comers in an individual event when representing his country in this he had to compete against the clock Winsford fire crew with ‘Fire bike’ year's Inov-8 Four Nations in 1,000 metres rowing, lift 45lbs for riders attended the British Super championship in Manchester. 50 reps and do 30 pull-ups. Bikes event at Oulton Park. Crossfit is a little known sport but Well done Shane. It was an extremely busy day with it is gaining a greater following every record numbers of spectators attending. year. It's already very popular within The fire bike was a great attraction, with fitness circles and has a huge over 500 people showing interest. following in America. GMC firefighter Samantha Briggs recently won the Crossfit World Games in Los Angeles and was crowned 'Fittest Woman in the World'. The Inov-8 Four Nations is an opportunity to see how you fare against your fellow countrymen and women and be in with a chance to fly the flag in a head to head team battle in a huge arena at SportsCity, Manchester. n Shane warming up for the competition alert 16 dec • 2013 SPORT & WELFARE • SPORT & WELFARE • SPORT & World Police and Fire Games & Welfare Sport Station Manager Helen Tooley from Nantwich and retired Station Manager Dave Gill from Warrington White Watch returned from the World Police and Fire Games (WPFG) in Belfast with an impressive 15 medals between keep fit them, while newcomer to the games Daz Tennant finished an Four members of Ellesmere Port’s impressive seventh in his category. White Watch recently took part in a couple of sporting events across the Daz, from Runcorn’s Blue Watch, county on the same autumnal day. took part in the ‘Stair Race’, as the games attracted over 7000 Watch Manager, Garry Sawdy and n Daz before the start of his ascent competitors from all over the world. Firefighter Chris Durston took part in the The stair race event has entrants run 10,000m. He gained Silver in the ‘Tough Mudder’ at Cholmondley Castle up the 28 floors of the tallest building 400m race and Bronze in 4x400m where both completed the course in 2hrs in Northern Ireland in full firefighting relay. 36mins. This was a 10 to 12 mile run with gear including breathing apparatus over 20 military style obstacles and has Helen brought home seven Gold and mask. been described not as a race - but a medals. She topped the podium in challenge! Daz was really pleased with his hammer, shot putt, javelin, discus, time of three minutes 21 seconds, 100m, 200m and long jump. The Firefighters Paul Slack and Clare Page with the winner from Spain finishing in Games involve more than 67 took part in the Chester Marathon which, two minutes and 52 seconds. countries across 56 sports. finished at Chester racecourse. Paul completed the distance in 3hrs 52mins Dave won six Gold medals, one The event is for serving and retired and Clare completed in 3hrs 26mins. Silver medal and one Bronze medal police, fire, prison and border security as he topped the podium in 400m officers. WPFG is the third largest Well done to them all. hurdles, 800m, 1500m, 3,000m international multi-sport event in the steeplechase, 5,000m and the world. Christopher reaches the Countywide bike ride Eiffel Tower benefits charity Wilmslow firefighter Christopher Gowler Congratulations to all the would like to thank everyone who has cyclists involved in the Red already sponsored him on his cycle ride Watch Runcorn Fire Station Bike from London to Paris which he has now Ride! completed and so far raised over £1500 The 180 mile ride saw them for St Giles Hospice. cycle to every station in the county His ‘just giving’ page is still open should within two days. people still wish to donate to this very The riders were Rich MacMillan, worthy cause. Mike Molyneux, Jonny Barr, Dave Buckland (Red Watch Runcorn), Martin Dodd and Ben Kirkpatrick (Frodsham), Dave Madders (Frodsham resident). Several stages were covered with Nick Bryson (retired Red Runcorn) and Monique Hollinshead (Audlem). They successfully raised over £1400 for The Fire Fighters Charity and Claire House Hospice. The donation page is still open and you can visit it at www.virginmoneygiving.com/cheshirefireride