December 2009 Keeping Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service Personnel Informed Year Review elcome to this festive edition of Alert. July saw crews dealing with a The past year has been one of major major explosion at flats in Hoole Wchange for the organisation, yet we have Lane, Chester – miraculously there still managed to deliver an excellent service to were no injuries. The month was local communities and hit our key targets. A also a time for departures, with fire sincere thank you to all staff and volunteers for cadets making their third successful your hard work and commitment - Happy school-building visit to Ghana and Kathryn Christmas and a peaceful New Year. Foreman, Deputy Chief Fire Officer for Paul Hancock, Chief Fire Officer Corporate Services saying farewell. David Topping, Chair of the Fire Authority August saw the Service taking pride The year started with the Service highlighted as of place with its pink fire appliance at one of the most progressive in the country in a Manchester’s massive Pride Parade. national report called ‘Rising to the Challenge: The stars were out in September at improving fire service efficiency’. the Service’s inaugural STAR awards February saw the launch of a new stores service event which ensured many of the from HQ following a major £30,000 refit. organisation’s ‘stars’ were recognised. Improvements included better computer access, There was another first with the launch of improved storage and stock management. the Co-Responder scheme at Nantwich. March saw celebrations as the Service hit its October was another time for target of carrying out 60,000 HSAs. departures, with Chief Fire Officer Steve McGuirk leaving to take up the top job at Manchester Fire and Rescue April was a time for new beginnings with the Service. Existing Deputy Paul Hancock was appointed as Cheshire’s launch of new councils for Cheshire East and first new Chief Fire Officer for a decade with an immediate pledge to Cheshire West and Chester resulting in a new-look develop a team approach across the organisation. Fire Authority and new Chair. The month also start of the major building programme at Headquarters. November saw the launch of the Rapid Response Rescue Units based at Sandbach and Holmes Chapel primarily to deal with Road May saw the Service hit the record books when it Traffic Collisions along the M6. unveiled a giant inflatable fire appliance – the ‘largest fire engine in the world. The month also saw praise December - staff, family and friends attended the fifth joint for fire crews after they prevented a major blaze in a emergency services Carol Service at a packed Chester Cathedral, and laboratory and offices on the Heath Business Park in were entertained by Dee-Sign Deaf Choir, Upton Heath Primary Runcorn from spreading to adjacent premises. School Choir and the Cheshire Constabulary Band. Fire Authority members have now approved the Service’s seventh draft annual Integrated Risk Management Draft Plan (IRMP) / Corporate Plan for consultation. Consultation has started and a summary of key proposals will be plan circulated to staff shortly. Main themes include ensuring the Service increases the flexibility of its response to the changing risks facing local communities and continuing the review of working arrangements to ensure they ready remain fit for purpose and deliver value for money. See the Intranet for full details. I Festive PLUS... N competition 4 page S pullout I on staff survey – D centre Your new HSA celebration Competition Charity race E Intranet - p4 - p11 - p23 success - p24 pages Preparing for an he Service held a major exercise aimed at raising people’s awareness of what to do in the event of Ta major emergency. emergency This took the form of a ‘Shelter Day’ at Hapsford This is the traditional message given out in major Services just off the M56 and involved crews responding incidents. There was also support on the day from other to a simulated incident involving a toxic cloud as if it were members of the Cheshire Local Resilience Forum. The happening for real. In addition specialist protective Service also used additional technology during the exercise in equipment and decontamination kits were used to rescue a bid to help keep residents and businesses informed. This the driver and deal with the leak of phosphoric acid. included a pilot ‘bluetooth’ technology available on most Community safety staff were also on hand in the nearby mobile phones. village of Elton, talking to residents, who had been given A mobile transmitter with a range of up to 250 metres sent advance warning of the exercise, about what they would out a brief information message which could be accepted by need to do if this incident was happening for real. anyone in the area with bluetooth enabled on their mobile Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Mark Cashin, said: “The phone. exercise went really well, not only was it a great way of Cllr David Topping, Chair of the Fire Authority, said: “It’s ensuring that our crews have the best possible training in important that we continually look to improve the way we preparation for a major emergency, it also provided us with provide information to people during emergencies and if the an opportunity to highlight what the community should do pilot is successful we will look to roll it out more widely”. The if an incident like this was to happen for real. We want success of this pilot has meant that the system is now being people to remember that in most major emergencies they purchased for use in future situations. should; Go In, Stay In and Tune In.” Excellence awards Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service together with partner agency Age Concern were short listed this year for the prestigious “Third Sector Excellence Awards” held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. Age Concern Cheshire and the Service were nominated in the category “third sector-public sector partnership” for our work in targeting older vulnerable adults. On the evening the winners were Essex County Council and the National Tree Foundation for a major tree planting campaign. Representing the Service at the event was Chair of the Fire Authority Cllr David Topping, Chief Fire Officer Paul Hancock, Evan Morris, Emma Coxon and Suzanne West along with five colleagues from The nominated team from CFRS and Age Concern Age Concern Cheshire including the Chief Executive Gill Walters. Cheshire Hungerford Primary School visit Blue Watch and staff from Crewe Community Safety Centre invited 60 pupils from Hungerford Primary School to attend Crewe Fire Station as part of the National Fire Safety Day. The aim of the event was to get Key stage 1 children to “Plan an Escape” with their families. The inflatable fire engine was used to demonstrate dangers in the home and then the children were put into the smoke tent and were shown the escape element of the key stage 2 DVD and had the chance to inspect a fire appliance. Chair of the Fire Authority Cllr David Topping and Mayor of Cheshire East Cllr Margaret Simon also attended and handed out 6th sense goody bags to all the children. 2 in my view. In the short space of time in which I have employee’s views. been Chief Fire Officer, I have quickly It is particularly pleasing to see big come to appreciate the enthusiasm and improvements in satisfaction levels with dedication of staff in every department communications and training. Both of these and at every level of the organisation. are areas where we have invested time and It is no coincidence that recent external energy in recently as they are crucial to our inspections of the organisation have all made future success. a point of commenting on staff commitment There is clearly still room for improvement in their final written reports. in some areas and we began the process of I am also delighted to see significant taking things forward by having discussions improvements in all key areas from the results at our recent management conference. of the recent Staff Satisfaction Survey, details The subsequent action table will be of which are included in a special four-page shared with everyone and monitored by briefing in this newsletter. Paul members of the Fire Authority so that when With just over half of the workforce we come to hold further staff surveys in the Hancock completing the survey we can be confident future we hope to see a continuing rise in that the results are a genuine reflection of satisfaction levels. Winter driving with Team Halton lue Watch from Widnes and Halton Community Fire Safety team hosted our a interactive winter road safety day with BCheshire Road Safety Partnership. The event was sponsored by ASDA in Widnes and the support of their management and staff was overwhelming. The event took six months in planning and resulted in an exciting project. It was well supported, well received and with great team work produced over 1200 people coming to the event. The crews, Unitary Performance Manager, advocates, support staff and volunteers got involved in the event to deliver the fire safety messages. The day enabled people to talk to staff regarding various road safety issues and to receive a winter road safety Firefighter Tom Taylor with Asda employees receiving driving packs, and enter into a prize draw. their goodie bags. The day was aimed at attracting motorists to spend a little time checking their vehicle, including tyre safety, child safety seats and how to avoid skids along with a range of practical advice about winter driving. The event showed the benefits of working within the Cheshire Road Safety Partnership and the importance of making links with local business communities, bringing it all together in providing a special event.