Sheffield emergency services collaborate to ease volume of 999 calls
Emergency services in Sheffield are coming together to form a new team to tackle low priority incidents in the city
Emergency services in Sheffield are going to work together to try and relieve the pressure of 999 calls.
A new team - made up of police, and fire staff - is being created to deal with low priority incidents like falls as well as reduce the fire risk in properties.
It's hoped the scheme - called the Local Intervention and Falls Episodes (LIFE) team - will free up resources to deal with more serious calls.
Martin Blunden's the Assistant Chief Fire Officer at South Yorkshrie Fire:
"These people will respond to the high volume low priority calls that, if a paramedic or police officer attended them, it'd make them unavailable for an extended period of time - this is an example of the Fire and Resue Service doing more than just fighting fires or cutting people out of cars or resuing people from houses."
*"People that are most at risk of fire are also people who require the response of the police service or the Yorkshire Ambulance Service. So there's a really strong link between those who are most at risk of falls and anti-social behaiviour and those most at risk of fire."*
The new team will use two specialist vehicles and consist of four staff - two South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue employees and two South Yorkshire Police community support officers (PCSOs).
The scheme has been funded by South Yorkshire Fire Authority for six months and researchers from the University of Huddersfield have been commissioned to evaluate its effectiveness. If successful, it could be extended and taken to other parts of South Yorkshire.
But South Yorkshire's Fire Brigade Union (FBU) have responded with scepticism, warning there could be risks of increased collaboration between emergency services.
Neil Carbutt's their secretary:
"The fears from firefighters on the ground is that somehow our identity becomes blurred, that we stop being seen as a humanitarian service and we somehow have greater links to law enforcement."
"The brand of the fires service is held in high esteem by the public. Whilst we're obviously trying to engage and make our money go further, the fear is that we somehow lose the ability to get into people's homes and give that advice."