Community Safety

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Community Safety initiatives

The Community Fire Safety department devises strategies which assist in the publication of information to advise members of the public on how to keep safe from fire.

The following links provide more information about the strategies.

• Promote safe living
  The community safety department holds a large selection of leaflets on fire safety, which can also be downloaded in PDF format.
  Community safety leaflets

• Home Fire Safety Visits
  These are for people at high fire risk.
  The visits Include free smoke alarms with a ten-year battery-for-life plus a burnt-toast "hush" button to silence false alarms.  We also give brief friendly advice on how to prevent fire, how to escape safely, and how to stay safe if trapped.   A special deaf alarm is available for those sufficiently hard of hearing.  Book a Home Fire Safety Visit
• False Alarm Call Reduction
  Fire pumps tied up investigating a malfunctioning automatic fire alarm system or a prank 999 call are not available for a real emergency.  So we are actively challenging owners to improve the reliability of automatic systems, and aim to achieve an apology or disconnected phone service from prank callers.
• Firesetters
  This scheme attempts to divert children at an early stage from playing with fire, or lighting small nuisance fires.  Parents and carers can contact the specialist team via our website, or by phone, to arrange a friendly visit to educate the child of the dangers.
• Arson Task Force
  A joint initiative between ourselves and the Avon & Somerset Police to drive down the high level of arson via Car Clear, education, and prosecution.
• Car Clear
  Approximately two-thirds of arson is car arson.  This scheme aims to reduce car arson (and joyriding) by removing abandoned and damaged cars promptly from the roadside.
• University Fresher Days
  A  number of demonstrations using the Chip Pan Fire Disaster Demonstration Unit to get basic student safety messages across, as part of a health and safety initiative.
• Impact Roadshow
  A nationally recommended package aimed at getting secondary school children to think about joyriding and its consequences, using the engendered peer pressure to deter joyriding.  We help the police deliver the roadshow in risk areas.
• Princes Trust
  Selected officers work as team leaders, or in a supporting role, of some of the Princes Trust teams of young adults, which aim to improve their initiative, teamwork, work experience and self-confidence via self-chosen projects leading to positive achievement.
• Youth Fire Cadets
  Part of the national Working With Young People in the Community initiative.  An initial scheme has been set up in Ashfield Young Offenders Institute for better-behaved inmates, with plans to extend to the general young public at selected fire stations.
• Youth Offending Team (YOT)
  We are regularly involved with restorative justice for young people, with the aim of reducing offending.
• Prison! Me! No Way!
  An independent Trust scheme aiming to deter young people from crime by showing them the consequences; we aid by talking about hoax calls, nuisance firesetting, joyriding and their consequences to our service and society.
• Displays at public events
  In order to get the fire safety message to the wider public we have a chip pan fire disaster demonstration trailer, two general-purpose fire safety message display trailers, and a sprinkler demonstration trailer.
• Chip Pan Fire Disaster Demonstration Trailer
  A spectacular way to get the dangers of chip pan fires across, especially to those who will soon be leaving home such as students, and stressing the likelihood of injury.
• Community Safety Centres
  A hub for safety advice, they also provide internet access and conference facilities free of charge to the community.
  Centres open at Bath (City Centre and Landsdown), Bristol (Temple Back Headquarters, Keynsham and Speedwell), Weston-super-Mare and Yate.
• Fire Safety in the home talks
  We talk to groups of all kinds to educate people how to be fire-safe in their own homes, including the elderly, primary and secondary school children and those with learning difficulties.
• Lifeskills – Learning for Living
  Most Year Six school children will take part in an interactive multi-agency learning experience to learn fire safety in a mock fire situation.  We also offer a range of other safety scenarios including road safety, water safety, basic first aid, countryside, garden and kitchen safety.  An excellent example of the benefits of multi-agency working, achieving what no one agency could alone.
• Safety Zone
  North Somerset’s interactive multi-agency learning experience aimed at infant school children.
• Static Displays
  Usually part of multi-agency health promotion days targeting specific groups by means of posters, leaflets and an officer to answer questions.
• Electric Blanket Testing
  Each year the various local Trading Standards departments run testing campaigns with the aim of removing dangerous or unsafe electric blankets from circulation – usually in conjunction with a voucher scheme to buy a replacement cheaper.  We aid each year by providing some of the venues at fire stations, and staff to support.