www.mawwfire.gov.uk
Youth Firefighter Association
The first branch of Young Fire Fighters in Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service was established in October 2001 based at Morriston Fire Station. Twenty-four 13 to 14 year olds were recruited from local comprehensive schools in the area. Due to the succes s of t he first branch, other schemes have been set up and at present there are ten branches throughout the Mid and West Wales Fire Service area.
- To enable young people aged between 13 and 17 to integrate with the Fire Service.
- To improve communication between the Fire Service and the communities they serve.
- To develop better relationships between youths, the Fire Service and other emergency services.
- To promote self discipline, social consciousness and community awareness.
- To hopefully improve future recruitment to the emergency services.
- To increase fire and community safety awareness.
Appropriate Fire Service training is given to young people, usually between the ages of 13 and 17 years. Training includes operational drills, first aid, fire safety education, leadership and much more Young people:
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- Form an interest in the Fire Service.
- Develop self confidence.
- Develop respect for their communities.
- Work as part of a team.
- Receive adult respect and support.
- Receive assistance with personal development by gaining qualifications.
Most schemes charge 50p each week in subs but this may vary. The funds go towards trips and visits and helps pay for entry fees and refreshments. The money is collected by one of the instructors at the start of the night and entered into a register so we know who’s paid and how much is in the account.
Since YFF's was started about 5-years ago, we have been on many trips and visits. These have been educational and enjoyable and some of them are listed below:
- Fire Control in Carmarthen
- The Fire Service College in Gloucestershire.
- South Wales Police Museum in Bridgend.
- Coastguard station in Mumbles.
- Bowling in ParcTawe.
- Road Traffic Collision training at Earlswood training centre.
- Indoor rock climbing in Brecon.
Camping trip 2007 |
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On Tuesday17th August 2007, young fire fighters from around the Mid and West Wales Fire Service area travelled to Pembrey Country Park in Carmarthenshire for our first summer camp. There were around 100 young fire fighters and 30 instructors at the camp. On arrival we went to the camping area we would be staying at to set up our tents and once the tents were put up we had a bit of free time to play football or other games. The instructors set up their tents and then started the first activity of the day. At around 10:30am we were all told to put our fire kit on to take part in the first activity of the day; a ‘hose-running’ competition. There were ten groups each of about ten young fire-fighters taking part. Each group would have to run out, under-run and make up a length of hose 6 times. The fastest person from each group would go into the final and the runner up of their group would go into the runners up final. It was absolutely exhausting! After all the groups had taken part in the competition we were sent out on an orienteering exercise. We had to look for 50 red and white squares each with a number and a letter on and we had 1 hour to look for as many squares as we could find. We walked miles! |
Just before lunch we had a bit more free time so most of us went over to the bobsleigh ride where we were allowed to have two rides for the price of one. Other young fire-fighters played base-ball. After we arrived back at the camp and had our lunch the instructors set up an obstacle course so we had to get our fire-kit on again. Just before we went on the obstacle course the instructors took group photos and ran the finals of the hose running competition. The first hose-running final for was for all the runners up. They had to run out a length of hose, under run it and make it up 6 times. The actual winners’ final was even harder. They had to run out a length of hose, under run and make it up 8 times. It was exhausting to watch let alone to do! |
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After the hose-running finals were over the instructors mixed us up into teams to have a go at the obstacle course. The first thing we had to do was to run out four lengths of hose and take with us a hand-controlled branch. We ran the hose towards a ladder and after all four lengths were run out we had to build a dam out of a ladder, a line (rope) and a salvage-sheet. When we had built the dam we had to ask for ‘water on’ to fill up the dam. When you had enough water in the dam you had to fill up a bucket of water, walk it around two cones, walk through a rope-ladder, crawl under a barrier and then crawl over a bouncy castle covered in foam. If you were able to get over the bouncy caste with any water left in your bucket then you had to go under another barrier and then empty your bucket into a larger container. The first team to fill their container were the winners and went into the final to do it all over again. As you can imagine… everyone got soaked! |
After the obstacle course was completed we had a mega-barbecue and a massive game of football. Almost all the young fire fighters and a few instructors joined in. Around 9pm we all went over to the café area to have a quiz. There were about 50 questions on various subjects; some fire related, some geography and then general knowledge. Everyone cheated like mad. Once the quiz was finished, trophies were handed out for the top hose runners and the obstacle course winners. After all the trophies were handed out we had 30 minutes to wash and sort ourselves out before we had to go to bed, around 11pm. Nobody really slept because it was too cold. Everyone was singing, giggling and acting daft. |
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On the second day the instructors woke us up about 7am to go and have some breakfast and after we had finished, we had to take our tents down and place our kit bags in a large pile by the road. We were then split off into teams to play different games and each of which lasted around an hour. One of the first games was to play football so we had a basic 5-a-side game. On the second game we had to first solve a puzzle of how to get a stack of boxes from the area marked ‘A’ to the area marked ‘C’. The catch was you were only allowed to pick up 1 box at a time and a bigger box couldn’t go on top of a smaller box. When we had solved that game we then had to fill up a pipe of water with holes drilled in it using only the fire engine that was about 150meters away. Everyone got soaked which wasn’t bad because the weather was boiling! |
We then went for dinner before going on the third station which was to get through a spiders web. Only one person was only allowed through one hole and if any part of their body touched the sides of the hole then they had to go back through and that hole was then off limits to everyone else. After that exercise we moved onto another game where we had to slide along a rope holding onto a separate rope with out falling off. In the next game we had to climb up a tree using a rope. We were placed in a harness and when we had climbed to the top we had to abseil back down the tree. On the next game we went down a zip-line. We were again placed in a harness and had to be attached to a line. We then had to ‘fall back’ and we shot down the line for about 10 meters. When we had completed all of our games we had some free time until the buses arrived to take us home. This camping trip was brilliant. The weather was great. We all had a good time. It allowed all of the young fire fighters to meet up, mix, make friends, and have fun. We hope to do it all again next year. |
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14th April 2008
By Zara McCambridge
We all arrived at 6 o’clock in our newly furbished youth room. We got changed and some of us did presentation skills because we were absent last week. My group did a presentation on our camping trip last summer. The people who weren’t doing the presentation did a ladder and hose drill. At 7:15 we had a break and it was mine and Beckah’s turn to run the kitchen. When break had finished everyone went out to the drill yard and did a ladder and hose drill. I was number 1 on the ladder and was a bit rusty on the commands, then two people climbed the ladder and had to do a double hitch knot around a pipe and heave the hose up the drill tower and turn it on and then clear away. After that we went back to the youth room and got changed. It was Ashley’s turn to clean the toilet, but he refused, so I volunteered to do it. It was the first time I ever cleaned a toilet. I’m thankful that no one had used it!!
By Zara McCambridge
We all arrived at 6 o’clock in our newly furbished youth room. We got changed and some of us did presentation skills because we were absent last week. My group did a presentation on our camping trip last summer. The people who weren’t doing the presentation did a ladder and hose drill. At 7:15 we had a break and it was mine and Beckah’s turn to run the kitchen. When break had finished everyone went out to the drill yard and did a ladder and hose drill. I was number 1 on the ladder and was a bit rusty on the commands, then two people climbed the ladder and had to do a double hitch knot around a pipe and heave the hose up the drill tower and turn it on and then clear away. After that we went back to the youth room and got changed. It was Ashley’s turn to clean the toilet, but he refused, so I volunteered to do it. It was the first time I ever cleaned a toilet. I’m thankful that no one had used it!!
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