Community Fire Safety

Hello to all Lyth Valley residents.

My name is Callum Graham and I am currently responsible for delivering community safety, from a fire service perspective, in and around the areas of Millom, Broughton, Coniston, Grange and Bootle.

I have been in the fire service for about 25 yrs and I've witnessed many changes in this time and none more so than the fact that we, as a service, will not meet our targets and expectations of our stakeholders working on our own. The reason for contacting the your Parish Magazine is that I am responsible for some of the Lyth ward, it is served directly from Grange and Kendal Fire Station, and I have experience of working with the groups around Kendal, South Eden and the areas mentioned above and I'm always looking for new ways of engaging with groups, especially those in our more rural areas, which pretty much covers the most of Cumbria.

The partnerships formed have contributed to some good initiatives getting off the ground and actually delivering results in the rural areas. In my previous post at Kendal we targeted the Longsleddle Valley near Selside and ensured that every property had a working smoke alarm. We delivered road awareness training to Grayrigg and Selside, Eden Valley and Pennine YFC's in an attempt to address the fact that our young people (17 - 25yrs olds) form the greatest percentage of people who are being killed or seriously injured on our roads. This work is continuing in my current post working with the WI, Age Concern, local young farmers and many other smaller groups who welcome new speakers to their meetings or just want to help us to achieve our service objectives, the primary one being making Cumbria a safer place to live, work and visit.

One of our many targets is to ensure that every property in the county has a working smoke alarm and I ask of the residents/groups of the Lyth Valley area to think of anyone they know would benefit from having a working smoke alarm. Who better than yourselves to know the people who are at risk in your area because they don't have a working alarm or haven't had it checked for some time? Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service deliver the Home Safety Visit totally free of charge, the service has been running for roughly 10yrs but we're still finding that the people who are dying or suffering an injury as a result of a fire do not have a working smoke alarm. Sadly, we're finding that the majority of the people being killed or injured live in the rural areas where the arrival time of the nearest fire engine may be in excess of 10-15 minutes. Tie that into the fact that many of our rural towns and villages are covered by retained fire fighters that have to respond from their home or place of work before the fire appliance can even turn a wheel reinforces the point that prevention is the best cure. The free Home Safety Check takes approximately 45 minutes where we will fit a new smoke alarm that is fitted with a ten year battery, offer general safety advice and point you to other agencies should you feel it appropriate. To receive the Home safety Check please call 0800 358 4777 or 01229 615735.

If any of the groups within the Lyth area would like myself to present a talk on the role and changes affecting the Fire and Rescue service then please feel free to e mail myself at , call on 01229 615723 or write to - Callum Graham, Locality Office-Barrow, Phoenix Road, Barrow in Furness, LA14 2NS.

Many thanks.

Callum Graham.