Student fire fighters Presentation

Student Fire Fighting vehicle

Today was a celebration and awards ceremony for the first set of student firefighters to be trained and graduate in Tamworth.

Here I met 7 of the student fire fighters who have attened at 12 week course consisting of one day per week. these young people had recived some excellent training and through 2 displays showed us what they had learnt. this wasn't thoery or playing around this was proper training in fire and rescue from cutting the roof off a car to fighting fires with breathing aparatus.

In the past student fire fighters have had to travel out of Tamworth to do this course, but now we have the fantastic facilities at Belgrave the benefits are fantastic.

A couple of the things I noticed today included 1, the weather 2, the team 3, the attention to detail.
The weather - as i sat in the cold watching I thought to myself how it would have been nice to have done this on a warm dry day, but then stopped and thought, the actual fire and rescue personal don't have a choice if its a real emergency. And today (no offence meant) you couldn't tell the difference between the regular staff and the teenagers.
The Team, these young people came from different school around Tamworth and had not met before but still in the 12 hours they worked together and developed a strong team, they way they used the spinal board and cut the roof off the car was a really team effort and was carried off seamlessly
Attention to detail and discipline, my teenage kid and other children really struggle to tidy up, but these in the team did what they did in the rescue and without a thought put all the equipment back away where is should be without a second thought.

This was a great experience and honour to share with the families, I hope the courses continue and would recommend all high schools to be aware and find out about this opportunity for young people in Tamworth.

Bad Laasphe (Pt2) Fire Fighting

It was a privileged to be able to attend the handover of a new turntable ladder at the Bad Laaspe fire station. The weather was a tiny bit damp, more drizzle than rain, and there was a cold wind as we arrived at the Fire Station, as we rounded the corner into the yard we where greeted by around a dozen appliances and  vehicles plus loads of people.

The handover ceremony started almost immediately after we arrived with the Bürgermeister (mayor) of bad Laasphe making a speech and presenting the chief fire officer with a giant Iveco Key to symbolise the had over of the new appliance. After a few speeches (in German obviously and well translated by the person next to me) I was Introduced and called forward to make a presentation to the chief fire officer, before I left for Germany being on the Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Authority I arranged for an authority plaque to take. I presented my gift much to the pleasure and honour of the Chief fire officer this was followed by Tony Goodwin (Chief Executive of TBC) presenting the station with a gift from the council, we too received gifts  and relaxed to chat.

Our relaxation was short lived and replaced with exhilaration as Tony and I were given the opportunity to go up in the new ladder platform, we both stepped in and the platform began to rise. to our surprise the movement was very smooth and stable without wobble or jolt, before we knew it we were 6 storeys up (100ft 30m ish) swinging around in the air looking down on roof tops and about 150 people below. the feeling was amazing, I would never had dreamt I would have the opportunity to do this but there I was 6 storeys up and not able to speak the same language as the person operating the controls.

Feet back on the ground and legs becoming shaky it was time to join the other guests in the fire station and enjoy some refreshment, conveniently the chief fire officer is also the local brewer and the local Bosch Pils was flowing nicely. Once again the residents of Bad Laasphe were really friendly and we spent allot of the evening talking to both members of their twinning and local fire fighter who made us feel really welcome.

The Fire service in Germany is voluntary (in a similar was to our retained crews a payment is paid however this goes through their employer) and the local community raises funds for equipment, but the dedication of these fire fighters is second to none.

We had a fantastic evening till around 10 o'clock when a days travelling from Tamworth began to take hold and we made our way to our hotel room for the week end.

Official Opening of Belgrave Community Fire station.

Guests witnessed a fantastic display of a rescue from a 2 storey property, The display took place in the training facilities built at Belgrave Community Fire Station.

My views are included in the start of the this video