Youngsters feel the heat

SCALING walls and spraying jet hoses was all in a day's work for a group of Sheffield youngsters who spent the day learning firefighting skills.

Around 30 young people, aged between 12 and 18, from Manor, Arbourthorne and Wybourn, took a real hands-on approach to the event at Mansfield Road station.

They climbed a nine-metre wall, completed an obstacle course and were shown how to use a firefighting hose.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

There was also a road accident scenario - where firefighters demonstrated how they use hydraulic cutting equipment to free trapped casualties and a spine board to lift them out safely.

The event ended with a quiz to test their knowledge and there was a Big Brother-style diary room where the teens could tell organisers what they thought.

Station manager Steve Fletcher said: "Unfortunately young people often get bad press due to the actions of a minority of people.

"The day was devised to enable all young people to have a great time at the fire station and for us to explain the consequences of anti-social behaviour in an enjoyable but thought-provoking way."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He added the event had been a success and said: "It seemed to go down well and we spread the messages in an enjoyable way. We will definitely do it again."

Mr Fletcher said it was the first day of its kind to be organised at the station, but he hoped to be able to run four each year.

He said it was part of a wider youth engagement initiative in the area designed to cut anti-social behaviour, which includes more intense programmes run over a week as well as courses run over a number of weeks involving youngsters referred to the from other agencies.

He added: "We get to build up more of a relationship with them over this period. We try and change their mind-set about what they are doing and also change the way they think about us - because we get a lot of attacks on us when we are attending incidents."

For more pictures see the.star.co.uk/ pictures

Click here for the main news index.

Got a view? Add your comment below.