Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service - community volunteers - public engagement

Cumbria Fire and Rescue community volunteers are involved in numerous public engagement activities, to name but a few:-

StreetSafe:
StreetSafe is a multi-agency initiative to address community concerns around Anti-Social Behaviour, Criminal Damage, and Burglary etc. and to increase involvement in Community Groups and Meetings. Community Volunteers will assist Police, Fire Crews, Housing Associations and other relevant organisations to target areas of concern by knocking on doors and asking citizens to complete a questionnaire.

Community Awareness Raising:
From giving talks to communities about Fire Safety Strategies to raising awareness of the Dementia Strategy, our volunteers are invaluable when it comes to raising awareness in diverse and often hard to reach communities.

"Stayin` Alive" Flash Mob to Promote:
Our volunteers worked alongside The Cumbria Chain of Survival Partnership - made up of organisations including Cumbria County Council's Fire and Rescue Service, the North West Ambulance Service and Neighbourhood Watch - and used the dance craze to promote HeartStart basic life support courses and Defib awareness available to members of the public across the county.

CFRS Staff, Volunteers and Fire Cadets plus other organisations teams making up the Partnership did their first flash mob at Asda's Kingstown store before moving into the city centre and performing on the street as well as in Marks and Spencer, House of Fraser, BHS, TK Maxx, HMV, New Look and The Lanes. To link in with the lifesaving theme, the flash mobs danced (performed CPR on the manikins) to the Bee-Gees hit Stayin'Alive and defibrillators were on show along with information about how to take a HeartStart course.