Safety Rangers 2016

This week’s blog looks at the 2016 Safety Ranges event, held at Stanningley Fire Station between 13-17 June.

Safety Rangers events have run for a number of years and are co-ordinated  and facilitated by West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS). Originally run for at a number of  fire stations across Leeds  it has now being scaled down to one station  per year, and local schools are contacted asking if they would like to attend  no fee involved.

The aim is to engage with local pupils through a series of life-event scenarios. This year, over 300 Year 5 pupils from nine schools in West Leeds, including Fulneck School in Pudsey (as per images above), attended short, 15 minute workshops on various topics including  included  basic fire Safety and escape plans in the event of a fire, the dangers of playing or being close to railway lines, cyber bullying and dangers of sharing information  on the web, contagious diseases and how they are spread  from person to person, planning for emergency’s flooding loss of electricity, and what to do if lost etc..

Partner organisations included ourselves (WYFRS), British Transport Police(BTP), Leeds Emergency Planning, West Yorkshire Police (WYP), Leeds Infectious diseases, child friendly Leeds and Leeds Emergency planning. In the past, other contributors have included  Leeds Anti-Social Behaviour teams (LASBT), Metro and Leeds Road Safety.

Below, are some of the quotes from the young people who attended the 2016 and their thoughts on the event.

“When you have a house fire, you should wake everybody up. Then you should open the windows to let some air in. Next you should put the back of your hand on the door to see if it is hot. If it is hot, shout for help and someone will hopefully be there.“

“We went to a police lady and she talked about Stranger Danger, she said never talk to a stranger. Do not give details out. She made it clear if there was a fire, to call 999. We got a free gift at the end and I got a slap band. I love it!”

“When we went to the Fire Station in Stanningley, we learned different things about safety such as house fires, street safety, railway safety and police safety. The police officer was my favourite because we got a gift and got to ask a question to a real police officer.”

“When we arrived, we got taken to a room to talk about street safety, this included flooding, gas leeks, storms and crashes. We learned how to be safe in those situations. In a flood, you need to climb to the highest point of your house or if there is a gas leek, you need to stay well away.”

“I thoroughly enjoyed our trip to the fire station. Firstly, we had a safety talk and practiced standing to attention and at ease. We then went into a room with a picture on the wall about natural and man made disasters on the street such as flooding or terrorism. We then met a police woman and she talked to us about what we should do in an emergency and who we should call.“

“If there is a fire at your house, bang on the walls and shout to your parents, “There’s a fire.” When you have done that, call the fire station if you have a phone in your house. If not, open the windows and shout, “fire fire, help!” If nobody comes, shout again. If someone comes, ask them to call the fire brigade and come back when they have called them. We were told you would only be safe in a house for 15-20 minutes.”

“We went to the fire station for a tremendous visit and to learn how to escape a house that caught on fire. We learned about how floods can be very bad because of all the dirt they pick up. We also learned about railway safety which was about how trains can’t stop that fast. We learned how you can get electrocuted by electricity from about 5 metres away.”

*Images courtesy of Fulneck School, Pudsey