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The Newsletter of Surrey Fire Volunteer Service

ISSUE 6 2017 DECEMBER Angelic Angie in the spotlight………...2

hard of hearing installs ……..4

2017 in focus………6

2017 saw our Volunteers

increasing involved in

supporting fire crews and

the Police in Road Traffic

Collision (RTC) reduction

campaigns throughout

the Surrey area, from

being ‘crash dummies’,

to Safe Drive, Stay Alive,

town center events (as

pictured), RUAD days for

pre-drivers, and working

in partnership with SCC

on REED days.

#notjustfires

RTC REDUCTION

63 Speeders

26 No Seatbelt

7 VOSA stops

3 Taxi licensing

2 Mobile phone use

1 Failed to stop !

All in ONE location over a

period of THREE hours.

Roadside Education and Enforcement

Days (REED) are aimed at educating

drivers who have committed a driving

offence. At the REED days drivers are

pulled over and, where appropriate,

offered road safety advice on the spot

rather than a penalty.

REED days are organised by Surrey

County Council in conjunction with

Police, Fire, VOSA and volunteers from

SFVS.

SCC REED Days

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A visit to Guildford’s Open day in 2015 led me to that ‘something unusual’. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but I certainly haven’t been disappointed

with the variety, challenges and fun. And what an amazing first year I have had with SFVS. Little did I know when I first applied to become a volunteer what unique oppor-tunities & experiences lay ahead. My very first volunteer ‘placement’ was to wade through, and sort, a mountain of absolute Fire Fighter uniform, from socks to shirts and various bits in between, to enable Stores to either recycle or reuse. One of my last ‘duties’ this year was at Dorking Halls for the Safe Drive Stay Alive roadshow. Hard hitting, thought provoking but essential for today’s young drivers. In between I have experienced Fire Station open days throughout Surrey, numerous Junior Citizens days, the Smoke room at Camberley, going up in the ALP at Brooklands Emergency Services Day courtesy of Leatherhead,

playing a trapped passenger in an RTC scenario, enjoying a day washing cars with Epsom, assisting Esher at a family fun day, numerous days at Guildford fire station with Brownies, motorbikes & of course the CPR Charity Day, a school fair with Godstone & a Macmillan cake sale on a very early Sunday morning at Chertsey. This is just a snippet of the unique opportunities I have

experienced. And along the way I have independently raised funds for The Fire Fighters Charity—this included abseiling down the Spinnaker Tower!! Along with all the events of course our main aim is Fire Prevention and

Awareness, so going into homes of the vulnerable to complete a SAWV is of great importance. I am always aware that we may be the only people they have contact with that day & what you can’t describe is the feeling that somehow you have may have made their day just a little bit batter. I feel very privileged to be part of an amazing team, led by amazing people. I’ve met strangers that I now call friends and have an invaluable insight into how SFVS work. It may be small but we all bring something different & that’s what makes SFVS what it is.

W ith time on my hands I was looking to volunteer, but I was looking for something unusual…………...

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This was the summer Land Rover training day and also a good opportunity to go through the setting up and running of the BRT and the PA system and safe and well visits. We hope to run at least 3 training days in 2018 and would welcome suggestions on what you would like covered.

HANDY LANDIE

In 2017 we had 8 new starters and only two people leave us. One of the leavers was Bob Fuller who many of you would have known, he was with us for a number of years, and covered many events, a move to Staffordshire beckoned, and he started volunteering for Staff fire and rescue, but Bob didn’t feel busy enough and has moved on. Sarah also left, although she wasn't able to do as much as she would have liked due to work commitments she too will still be greatly missed. Lets hope 2018 sees some more new starters to build on the great team that we have today. What are our numbers now ? well its 62 and just a shame that some of you have never met, we must change that next year.

We are proud to say that 2017 also saw SFVS involvement in the Youth

Engagement Scheme, in the shape of Jason and Adam who are trained to assist in the

running of the YES courses.

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How does it work ? The FireAngel uses Thermoptek technology combining the best of both worlds with Optical sensing as well as thermal monitors. The alarm works on the light scatter principle. As smoke enters the optical chamber, its particles cause the infra-red light to be scattered onto a photodiode receptor. Once light hits the receptor a signal is sent to the integrated circuit causing an alarm to sound. It constantly monitors for temperature change and if a sudden rate of temperature rise is detected the sensitivity of the alarm is increased. When the alarm sounds, it signals to all devices in the chain, alerting occupants of the recognised fire.

2017 has seen our volunteers very active in the hard of hearing community. The team of 10 specialise in the installation and configuration of Fire Angel 630 series high-end smoke alarms with strobe units and vibrating pads. These alarms are connected wirelessly and (unlike standard alarms) when one actuates, they will all actuate together in sequence. The occupant usually has the vibrating pad underneath their pillow or seat and combined with the blinding strobe lights will be immediately alerted to a fire. This has been possible through a collaborative partnership with Sensory Services by Sight For Surrey, the multi-sensory service provider for Surrey County Council, who have been excellent in providing referral’s throughout the County. Our volunteers have installed in every corner of the county for all ages and all types of premises ranging from a simple one alarm install through to a multi-alarm, multi strobe, multi pad installation wirelessly communicating throughout a large house with annex. Of course these are all undertaken in conjunction with our Safe & Well visits where multiple checks and balances take place.

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Aerial Ladder Platform (ALP) Call Sign S13A1 (Leatherhead) Crew x 2 Dimensions Height 3.66m Length 10.23m Width 2.5m Unladen Weight 22.5T Maximum width with jacks extended 5.88m Minimum width with jacks extended 2.55m Maximum operating height 42m Equipment carried: Nearside front locker -1 x Ferno Stretcher, 1 x Ferno Stretcher carrier frame. Nearside lockers - 2 x Webber cage mountable box, 1 x Red shot hammer, 2 x Lanyard, 4 x Karabiners, 1 x Box mounting plate, 2 x Webber chargers, 2 x Webber batteries, 1 x Webber E Combi tool, 1 x Communications headset, 8 x Pop up road cones, 1 x PPV support, 1 x 200kg cage anchor point, 3 x 70mm Hose (30m length). Nearside Deck - 1 x Rescue Ladder, 1 x Friction shoe, 2 x Wood jacking blocks. Offside front locker -1 x Ferno Stretcher, 1 x Ferno Stretcher carrier frame. Offside Locker -1 x Ferno Stretcher harness, 1 x Emergency power cable, Blue LED lights and charger box, 1 x Petrol can and spout. Offside Deck - 1 x Friction shoe 2 x Wood jacking blocks. Drivers Cab - 1 x Forward facing camera, 1 x Digital measuring device, 1 x 100m Line bag, 1 x 100m line bag.

In each Newsletter the Geek Zone will tell you all about the things you never knew

you needed to know !

We start with the Aerial Ladder Platform, often seen at Open Days displaying the

awesome 42m reach, the 2nd highest in the UK, and seen in action at the Grenfell

Tower tragedy in London as well as cross-border incidents throughout 2017.

The Geek Zone

Did you know ? The Dalmatian serves as a fire station mascot, but back in the days of horse drawn fire engines, they provided a valuable service. Dalmatians and horses are very compatible, so the dogs were easily trained to run in front of the engines to help clear a path and guide the horses and the firefighters to the fires quickly. They are still chosen by many fire fighters as pets in honour of their heroism in the past………..see if you can guess who owns these two beauty’s ? ……...Winner gets a tin of Chum !

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From Open Days and CPR training, to Schools and

role-plays—it’s simply been fun, fun, fun !

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MESSAGE

Dear all, Another year over, sounds like part of a song. I wanted to take the time to thank you for all you have done this year, and a blank sheet is normally hard to fill but this should I hope be easy so here goes………. 2017 has ,despite the management changes, been a great year; you have risen to the challenge and covered all of the events that were sent your way. The main comment that has come back from the crews is “I’m not sure how we could have done it without them” and “what a great bunch of guys and girls”. It’s true to say that we didn’t get enough emails of thanks but that’s the same in all areas of life. However people are always ready to fire out a complaining email and I’m pleased to say hand on heart we didn’t have any of those. Year on year the hours that the volunteers give has increased and this year over 4500 hours of volunteering have been carried out—this is a great achievement. The main areas have been, Open days, outside events, Junior Citizens, Safe and Well visits, Hard of hearing visits, Safe Drive Stay Alive, plus many more which all add up to the fantastic role you play. There are also people behind the scenes that you may not be aware of, our web site is run by a volunteer, and has some great information on it, I’m so please we don’t follow the SCC type of web site. There is also data entry, which can be a real headache but needs to be done. This year also saw the start of what I hope will continue, and that’s the introduction of Volunteer, Youth engagement instructors of which we now have two. We have also introduced a volunteer coordinator role for hard of hearing visits, which has become very successful, if only we hadn’t had so many IT problems. I won’t go on about this year any more as if you’re like me you may well be starting to give up reading this, so a few words about next year. In 2018 we would like to get the catering at incidents restarted, and we have several people undertaking the food hygiene course, so far we have had 1 person achieve 100% so there’s a target for the rest of you taking it. We are also hoping to introduce an admin role, and will be offering this out to people with disabilities who would not be able to do the roles the rest of you do. And we would like to start up two more coordinator roles, one for Wildfire volunteers and one for events. So if you’re interested let me know— it will take a lot of effort! So what about the charity? Well this year you have raised £6036, this does NOT include shop in a box or car washes so it’s probably safe to say over 10K and that’s just well WOW. So any ideas for a big fundraiser next year? I will shut up now and just say thank you for all you have done, and also thank you to your families. Have a great Christmas and New Year, and above all stay safe.

Andy

www.surreyfirevolunteer.org www.facebook.com/SurreyFireVolunteer

www.twitter.com/Volunteer_SFVS