Did you know that Bedfordshire and Luton Fire and Rescue Service will provide and install smoke detectors in your home completely free?
If you don’t have a smoke alarm, get your parent or carer to call us free on 0800 043 5042
click here to read about what Thomas, a Home Fire Safety Advisor does for a
Home Safety Fire Check.
...every year the UK fire service attends 60,000 house fires which cause 9000 injuries and 500 deaths
The most common place for an accidental house fire to start is the kitchen
Most house fires occur between the hours of 10pm and 4am, when most people are asleep
Without a smoke alarm you are twice as likely to die in a house fire as someone with a smoke alarm.
Most people who die in house fires suffer smoke inhalation rather than burns. This is because smoke travels faster and further than fire
Smoke detectors will wake you up and warn you that there is a fire
A room which is on fire can reach a temperature of 600 C and can heat other rooms to 150 C which is hot enough to melt plastic and to kill people in those rooms
If your smoke alarm sounds, you and your family should get out as quickly as possible. To make this easier, you should have an escape plan which everyone in the family knows about. You should practice this escape so that in the event of a fire you know what to do
Firefighters wear special clothing which protects them from this heat, breathing apparatus which stops them inhaling smoke and helmets which protects them from falling debris. Without this equipment they could not survive inside a fire.
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...Haydon Littlewood
On the first morning of my day duty I normally wake up around 7:15 feed my son and dog while setting up the ironing board. My uniform is ironed and my wife prepares breakfast for the two of us.
After the ten-minute bike ride to work I change into my uniform and get ready for parade at 9:00. This is where the Officer in Charge (OIC) takes roll call and informs the watch of any safety issues that we need to be aware of immediately. Once we have been dismissed we begin our safety checks of our personal protective equipment (PPE) Breathing apparatus sets (BA sets) and fire appliances.
There is always a plan for the day. At approximately 9:30 we sit around the table and are told what activities we will be doing throughout the day. Due to the nature of the job this plan is never set in stone as at any moment a ‘shout’ (fire call) could come in and we drop what we are doing at turn out on the fire engines.
The day generally will consist of activities such as home fire safety checks, school visits, fetes/open days, building inspections and familiarisation of complex buildings in the station area.
In addition to the above the watches are regularly updating their training this could be through computer generated information or practical sessions out in the yard. As the job can be physically demanding at times it is important to maintain our physical fitness through individual gym programmes or through group games.
Today’s fire service is very much a proactive organisation and we believe that prevention is the way forward, however, accidents will always happen and we will always attend incidents such as fires, road accidents, chemical spills, water rescues, people trapped and more.
I finish my shift at 6:00 going home feeling like I have achieved something with my day. This could be something as dramatic as rescuing someone from a burning house or as simple as fitting a smoke alarm for an 70 year old lady that could possibly save her life one day! What a great job!!
Field and grass fires in the dry, summer months could cost lives. Fanned by wind, flames, which start in a hedgerow or on a patch of grass, can spread faster than a person can run.
A change in wind direction can send flames sweeping across the escape path of people on public footpaths - or trap children playing in a quiet field.
What’s more these fires can kill wildlife or destroy their environment.
Firefighters from Bedfordshire and Luton Fire and Rescue Service spent hours last summer putting out and damping down fires, which started in the countryside. These fires also destroy thousands of pounds of crops and farm equipment. A carelessly discarded cigarette can ruin a whole year’s work by a farmer.
Now firefighters are appealing to young people who are out and about to be alert for field, hedge and rubbish fires. If you see a fire dial 999 and ask for the Fire Service - we will be glad to be alerted as soon as possible before a small blaze turns into an inferno.
Helping to clear away rubbish and broken bottles is one of the aims of projects like the Environmental Action Days and Pride of Place campaigns. Specific areas are targeted by teams of firefighters, police and local authority workers who turn up together on one day and “clean up” an area, which has become neglected, or overgrown. The results are good - less fires being just one of them.
In South Bedfordshire Pride of Place campaigns have been held in Meadow Way, Leighton Buzzard and Westminster Gardens, Houghton Regis and most recently in Stopsley.
Says Cassandra Swan of Bedfordshire and Luton Fire and Rescue Service: “Nationally every year fire destroys thousands of acres of countryside and wildlife habitats - most are due to carelessness and sometimes they are started deliberately.
“We want anyone who is out and about in the country this summer to be alert to these dangers.
Discarded cigarettes and broken glass, through which the sun can shine and cause an ignition, are the main causes.
“Be careful and if you see a fire call 999 straight away with details of the location - the nearest road for instance is important to allow fire vehicles to gain easy access.”
WE HAVE 10 CREW AVAILABLE AT VARIOUS TIMES OF THE DAY. THE CREW HAVE A WIDE VARIETY OF SKILLS INCLUDING ENGINEERS, PAINTERS, PLUMBERS, TAXI DRIVERS, TYRE FITTERS, BAR STAFF, COOKS, SALESMEN, ARTISTS AND LORRY DRIVERS
THE STATION HAS TWO VEHICLES,
A FRONT LINE RESCUE PUMP (SCANIA 94 SERIES) WHICH CARRIES EQUIPMENT TO DEAL WITH ALL TYPES OF FIRES (INCLUDING THOSE REQUIRING BREATHING APPARATUS), ROAD TRAFFIC COLLISIONS, HAZARDOUS MATERIAL INCIDENTS, WATER RESCUES. THE OTHER IS A SPECIALIST VEHICLE WHICH IS A FOUR WHEEL DRIVE LANDROVER (110 SERIES) USED TO TACKLE OFF ROAD INCIDENTS WHERE RESCUE PUMPS CANNOT GET TO, SUCH AS FIRES IN FIELDS AND WOODED AREAS THE STATION IS MOBILISED ON AVERAGE ABOUT 250 TIMES A YEAR AND THE BUSIEST PERIOD IS IN THE SUMMER MONTHS WHERE WE ATTEND
A LARGE NUMBER OF FIELD FIRES.
MOST COMMON INCIDENTS ATTENDED ARE CAR FIRES, ROAD TRAFFIC COLLISIONS AND FIELD FIRES
THE STATION WAS BUILT IN 1998 AND ON LAND DONATED BY THE THEN MARQUESS OF BEDFORD AND SITUATED ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF WOBURN VILLAGE THE AREA COVERED BY WOBURN STATION INCLUDES THE M1 FROM TODDINGTON (JCT.12) TO MILTON KEYNES (JCT.14) AND THE A5 FROM MILTON KEYNES TO HOCKLIFFE AND ALL THE AREA INBETWEEN
THE HIGHEST RISK CATEGORY OTHER THAN THE M1 IS WOBURN ABBEY WHICH IS A MAJOR HERITAGE BUILDING
WE ATTEND ON AVERAGE FOUR JOINT EXERCISES EVERY YEAR WITH NEIGHBOURING STATIONS LARGEST INCIDENT LAST YEAR –
A THATCH ROOF FIRE AT THE ROYAL OAK PUB NEXT DOOR TO THE FIRE STATION!
...Haydon Littlewood 
