Wednesday 2 January
1200
hours
A firefighter
from Avon Fire & Rescue Service has used his newly-acquired
British Sign Language (BSL) skills to help communicate with a man
who is deaf at the scene of an incident.
Ian Hunt, who is
based at Southmead Fire Station, was called to a car fire in Romney
Avenue, Lockleaze, on the evening of New Year’s Day. When crews
arrived they attempted to speak to the owner of the Mitsubishi
Pajero, a man who was deaf.
Firefighter Hunt,
who recently completed the BSL level one course, along with a
number of other staff from Avon Fire & Rescue Service, used his
skills to communicate with the vehicle owner and get the
information the crews needed to tackle the car fire, which had
started due to an electrical fault.
Watch Manager at
Southmead Fire Station, Dave Pound, said: “When we arrived at the
incident there was a bit of confusion because we needed to get
certain information from the owner of the vehicle. It was really
useful to have a member of the watch who had learnt BSL so we could
let the owner know what was happening.
“The owner of the
vehicle then thanked us, through Firefighter Hunt, for our help and
said he was grateful to have someone to communicate with through
BSL.”
Head of Community
Safety at Avon Fire & Rescue Service, Andy Colgan, who has also
learnt BSL, said: “It’s great to see Ian continuing to use his new
skill when attending incidents. Only recently he was also involved
in delivering fire safety advice to pupils at the Elmfield School
for Deaf Children in Bristol. Avon Fire & Rescue Service is
working hard to forge links with everyone in the community and
ensuring our firefighters can communicate with deaf people at
incidents is vital for everyone’s safety.”
Avon Fire &
Rescue Service is involved in a number of initiatives designed to
help forge better links with the deaf community, including:
-
Fitting specialist smoke alarms designed for deaf and hard of
hearing people
-
Offering an SMS (text message) service to enable deaf and hard of
hearing people to contact Avon Fire & Rescue Service for fire
safety advice and free Home Fire Safety Visits
-
Training firefighters in deaf awareness with some going on to learn
British Sign Language
The SMS number 077 814 82627 allows
deaf people to contact Avon Fire & Rescue Service and ask for
fire safety advice or book a free Home Fire Safety Visit.