Fire Service Open Days and Other Events Round-Up: Summer 2016

We’ve been extremely busy at the charity over the summer months attending events round the country to raise awareness of Burn and Scald Prevention and fundraise in order to continue the important work we do. Here’s a round up of everything we’ve been up to:

LFB 150

As one of the charities selected by London Fire Service Commissioner – Ron Dobson to benefit from the events taking place to celebrate the London Fire Brigade’s 150^th Anniversary (LFB 150) this year, we have been attending numerous events across the City.

On the 11^th and 12^th June we went to the London Fire Brigade Sports Day at the Copper Box, Olympic Stadium where 7,000 members of the London Fire Brigade staff and their families had the opportunity to take part in activities to raise money and celebrate 150 years of the City’s Fire Service. It was a fantastic day and the below photo shows Bernie the Bear supporting and having fun on the day! We also attended the Commemoration Service at Southwark Cathedral on the 5^th July which was a further celebration and fundraising event for LFB 150.

LFB 150 Safe in the City took place on the 20^th August, when the City’s Fire Service hosted the biggest family fun day in their history, a free open air celebration of all London Fire Brigade does. The event took over the Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park next to the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth. Activities included live rescue demonstrations, displays of their latest emergency vehicles, kit and equipment, vintage fire engines and uniforms, historical re-enactments and the opportunity to meet firefighters and the ever popular fire investigation dogs. A great day was had by all and the proceeds from all the events that have taken place for LFB 150 will be shared between us, RAFT, Burns Camp, Children of Fire and The Fire Fighters Charity.

Fire Service Open Days

During the summer months Fire Stations open their doors to members of the public and we’re lucky enough to be able to attend some of these events to raise awareness of burn and scald prevention for children as well as fundraising for the charity. We attended Plaistow Fire Station Open Day on the 16^th July and along with raising awareness by handing out our prevention leaflets, Lizzie’s Accident books and Children’s Burns Trust flags, which always go down well, we raised £170.

As well as Plaistow we also attended Northants Fire Service Open Day on the 30^th July, Dunstable Open Day on the 17^th July, and Islington & Sandy Open Days on 11^th September – all in all raising over £2,500.

Other Events

You may have read that we’re working with London Fire Brigade and London and South East of England Burn Network to produce a comprehensive Burns and Scalds Prevention and First Aid Pack aimed at Teachers of Key Stage 1 and 2. We have been attending stakeholder meetings with representatives from Fire Kills, CAPT, RoSPA, St John’s Ambulance and Electrical Safety First. Bi-monthly planning meetings are continuing in order to work on this invaluable resource.

We also had an excellent day at the Burns Collective Showcase in Bristol on the 1^st July learning about current and planned research programmes into paediatric burn prevention, treatment and support.

On the 10^th August we attended the National Burns Camp Open Day.  The Open Day showcases the week long camp for burn injured children from throughout the UK, held at Grafham Water in Cambridgeshire each year.  Special activities held on the day included a BBQ, football, and a bouncy castle – but by far the most popular attraction was when the local Fire and Rescue Service arrives with an appliance and set up a giant water slide!

Up and Coming Events

We have two Family Weekends coming up this autumn, one at the end of September in Littlehampton with the London and South East of England Burn Network and the other in November in Penrith with the Northern Burn Care Network. Our annual Jamboree is also being held from the 22^nd to the 25th October.

A date for your diary is National Burns Awareness Day on the 19^th October, to get involved and raise awareness please click here.

A brief history of LFB 150

Although the Great Fire of London happened 350 years ago, it wasn’t until 1 January 1866 that London Fire Brigade was formed as The Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB).

LFB is now England’s busiest Fire and Rescue Service, the busiest metropolitan fire and rescue service in the UK and one of the largest firefighting organisations in the world.  It provides services across the whole of the Greater London area, serving the capital’s 8.2 million residents as well as those who work in and visit the city.

Last year, the number of fires was below 20,000 for the first time since records for Greater London began in 1966 and fire deaths have steadily declined since the 1980s. In 1987, there were 28.5 fire deaths per million residents compared to 3.4 per million in 2014.