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Our Local Fire Service
Tim
Spring is the Station Manager at Redhill fire station. He joined
the fire service at the beginning of 1988 and has worked at Redhill
since 2002.
His first fire as station manager was a big blaze
on Upton Heath. He enjoys the variety of incidents that the station
"ground" seems to generate but more than anything else
describes the engagement with the local communities of North Bournemouth
as the most fulfilling part of the role.
Red
Hill Park Fire Station is the local station for the community
of Winton. The building was opened in 1960 and took over from
the earlier Winton Fire station in Wimborne Road. The old fire
station was opened in 1927 and is currently used as a store house.
See pictures of it on our then and now
page and read the history.
Currently the fire station's team attends around
1500 incidents per year. These calls cover a whole spectrum from
house fires to heath fires and road accidents.
Winton
itself is a very safe place to live and although it makes up around
a fifth of the fire station's ground only around 10% of the dwelling
fires for the station have occurred in the area over the last
five years.
There are three vehicles kept at the station - one
frontline appliance that is available 24 hours a day 365 days
per year, a spare appliance that is available to replace any that
need repair in the county and an operational support vehicle which
carries additional equipment and internal deliveries around the
county.
The station also has a breathing apparatus training
facility, which is used by crews from Redhill and surrounding
stations.
Responding to emergencies is only a very small part
of the service the station offers to the local community and one
of the main aims of the fire service is to prevent incidents through
partnership working and education.
Over
the past three years all school children in North Bournemouth
have been offered fire safety education talks at years 2, 5 and
7. These are delivered by fire fighters from Redhill working in
partnership with local schools. They start with an introduction
to the service and heathland at year 2, the problems created by
hoax calls at year 5 and home fire safety and escape plans at
year 7.
Working with Bournemouth Borough Council, the crews
from the station have also been engaging with young people through
youth club visits.
Arson remains the station's biggest challenge with
a number of initiatives being rolled out over the last three years.
These have had a significant effect with a sharp decline in both
car and heathland fires as a result.
The protection of the public in their own homes
is a primary concern of the service and over the past year the
station has been able to offer fire safety advice
to occupants in their own homes. In many cases occupiers have
been provided with smoke detectors as a result of the home fire
safety risk check. These have been supplied and fitted free of
charge by the service. The appointment has been made at the occupier's
convenience - this has been at anytime and not restricted to office
hours. Many of the visits have taken place over the weekends,
as the crews are always available (subject to fire calls).
The examples listed above are only a snapshot of
the many initiatives and partnerships that the service is involved
in. The personnel at Redhill are striving to make the station
more community focused and are actively looking for opportunities
for community groups to make use of the facilities and resources
available.
If you have a community group that may benefit from
a talk on the fire service and home fire safety or you would like
to make an appointment to have a home safety risk check. Please
contact Tim Spring on 01202 526847.
For online advice on fire prevention and safety,
visit the
Dorset Fire and Rescue Service website.
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