www.tancgc.gov.uk
Youth Firefighter Association
Thursday 17th June
Hi I am Chris Garden and I have been attending Young fire fighters for 4 years. Tonight we kicked off with two short clips of previous passing out parades. First off Dai got out his passing out video from 1985. He dusted off the cobwebs to give it the annual playing; I can honestly say I have seen it so many times I could act it out myself. Fire-fighters used to wear yellow leggings, rubber boots, tunics with metal buttons, cork helmets and no gloves. After we watched Dai's passing out video and everyone woke back up and we watched part of our passing out parade DVD from last year, this gave us some ideas for what we are going to do in our passing out parade this year, which is very soon.
After break we got our kit on and went out to the drill yard where there was several bins containing liquid fuel. There was a selection of different fire extinguishers that we were going to try out, foam, water, carbon dioxide and dry-powder. Everyone had a turn of using a fire extinguisher and attempted to fight the flames of the fuel fire; the water extinguisher didn't work very well and it just made the flames bigger which was actually the point of the exercise.
Later on in the evening we all went into the fire chamber and Dai made a small controlled fire in the corner of the chamber out of one bag of shredded paper. Everyone sat down and we experienced how smoke develops and travels in a fire; the smoke layer was nearly touching our heads and at the end we all had black faces because everyone rubbed dirt into each others cheeks. There is one very important message from this demonstration and that is to stay down low in a fire to avoid the smoke.
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Thursday 6th May 2010
WOW! IT IS HERE AT LAST… OUR FIRE TRUCK!
After anxiously waiting we have finally got our new fire truck. After a lot of money donated by many generous people we have built our own appliance. It was delivered today and we were the first group to use it. The fabulous machine has a lot of features but most are the same as a real one. It has a new pump which has a collecting head at the bottom, which is also directed to the tank. There are also two delivery outlets where you can connect lengths of hose and has a hose-reel jet on the top plus loads of equipment and ladders.
It is the first YFF appliance to be built in Wales but will be of benefit to the Monday and Thursday groups at Morriston fire station and also the Gorseinon group on a Tuesday not to mention all the other Phoenix courses schools fetes and outdoor events. We will be using the appliance to prepare for our passing our parade on the 27th of July where there will be a big media launch. We all have to keep it up to speck and clean it weekly but also check all the equipment to make sure that the appliance can work.
By Mitchell Ahern
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Thursday 4th March
Tonight we were issued with our new ‘undress uniform’ consisting of blue shirts / blouses which are the same as those worn by adult fire-fighters but ours have the YFF logo embroidered in gold. We’ve also been issued with YFF epaulettes which include the Welsh Assembly Government’s dragon logo since they sponsor our uniform. We think we look pretty smart! We’ve had two photos taken to show the difference in our undress and fire-fighting uniforms. The photos were taken in the appliance bay at Morriston Fire Station. Not everyone was here for the photo but these are the first group photos we’ve had taken since we started in September-09.
Also, we’ve been told that our brand new YFF fire appliance is almost ready for delivery. It’s being built for us in Batley, Yorkshire and should be here by the end of March or beginning of April. It will be the first appliance of its type in Wales and we’ll put photos of it onto this web-page. Keep watching.
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Thursday 21st January 2010
Last week we were split in to two groups, one group went out on the drill yard and practiced hose running, the other group stayed in and thought of a slogan for a grass fire campaign.
After our break we went back out onto the drill yard and in our watches we practiced replacing burst lengths, adding a length and taking off a length and the orders that we had to tell the pump operator. It was very tiring and took a lot of team work. We learnt that some of our watch are very annoying and this made working as a team harder.
Last week was fun but as it was our first week back since Christmas we had forgotten quite a few vital points and instructions for example when we were making up the hoses they went all wonky and unprofessional.
Much Love
Ca Wright and Zara Evans xx
Thursday 21st January 2010
It’s a beginning of a new year! Sorry we haven’t been in touch since September it’s been a very eventful 6 months. Young firefighters’ has started back after the Christmas break.
Last year was a very successful year with all the new young firefighters who started in September learning new skills. We got split into 4 watches and each we get given different drills and tasks to do with day to day fire fighting which we find educational and enjoyable at the same time and also learning new skills and techniques.
During this time we have attended a multi agency exercise which included the fire service, police, paramedics, the army and also other local services. It involved a supermarket that had collapsed from an explosion with shoppers inside which was us yff J
- We first met at Earlswood and had a briefing on what was going to happen through out the day.
- We then got made up as casualty’s to make the drill as realistic as possible by making us have cuts over our face broken bones etc.
- We then had a small card to say what was supposed to be wrong with us and we had to act as if we was in pain and stress.
- Then we got into position we were all spread around the building some inside the building and some outside in the car park.
- Finally we got rescued and taken to a refuge so we could get checked out and the paramedics do there job and ask questions about the incident.
We’ll keep you informed and up to date on what we are taking part in throughout the next few months.
Cleo O’Reilly
Christmas Night Out 2009
As in previous years we went for a Christmas night out at Waterfront Winterland in Swansea which is always located alongside the LC2 leisure centre on Oystermouth Road. We went ice-skating for about an hour which was brilliant and then on the rides though it was very cold. After that we went for a slap-up meal in the nearby Chinese Restaurant. The food was brilliant and we all had a good laugh. These are some of the photos of us in action.
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Thursday 10th September 2009
Hi. We’re the new group of Young Fire Fighters who’ve started training at Morriston this evening. We applied many months ago and tonight is our induction session where we were introduced to each other and our instructors, told about health and safety, shown around the fire station and issued with our temporary fire-kits and training log-books. The older YFF’s aren’t here this evening as they start back next week. We look forward to meeting them. Tonight gives us a chance to get to know each other and learn some basics before we start on serious training. It’s going to be a hard year but we’re all looking forward to it.
We’ll be updating this web-page every couple of weeks to tell you how our training is progressing and what we’ve been up to so we hope you’ll keep an eye on us and follow our activities. If you want to ask us a question, send an e-mail via the Contact Us section of this web-site and we’ll do our best to answer you.