Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service first became involved in the Crucial Crew events in 1993.
Shropshire County Council and Telford & Wrekin Council hold these events at Nesscliffe, Buildwas Abbey Telford, Bridgnorth, Oswestry and North Shropshire.
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These events are aimed at year six pupils, aged 10 and 11, who are at an age where they are becoming more independent and beginning to make responsible decisions. The Crucial Crew event consists of real life scenarios, featuring various agencies who give interactive presentations and offering advice on the best way to deal with certain safety situations.
| What is Crucial Crew? |
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The Crucial Crew project aims to provide an enjoyable way of teaching children to
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Become more aware of personal safety |
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Learn how to react to dangerous situations |
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Make a contribution to crime prevention |
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Avoid becoming victims of crime |
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Know what to do in an emergency |
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Foster good citizenship |
Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service have previously focused their presentation on prevention, detection and escape using cosmetic smoke to illustrate escape behaviour. However due to a health and safety issue, the use of the smoke has been prohibited because of the dangers to children who are asthma sufferers.
The Youth Officer has redesigned the Crucial Crew presentation focusing on all five Community Fire Safety messages: prevention, detection, escape, arson and hoax calls.
Crucial Crew events are not open to the public and are specifically aimed at school children in Shropshire.
Fire crews from the wholetime stations attend the Crucial Crew events where they provide a variety of different activities to teach the children about fire safety and Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Each scenario below usually lasts 15 minutes.
| Debate presentation |
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There is a change to this year’s presentation. The aim is to interact with children using the four techniques of learning
- Kinaesthetic (movement)
- Visual
- Verbal
- Aural (listening)
The interactive lesson will assist children in becoming more engaged in the presentation.
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| Meet Harry the Hoaxer |
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Firefighters will introduce Harry the Hoaxer
This cartoon character is a visual resource designed to assist the firefighter in explaining the consequences of making hoax calls and committing the crime of arson.
Printed on flip chart size paper the pictures tell a story about Harry the Hoaxer.
The firefighter will:
- Ask the children to tell him/her what is happening in the 1st picture and then summarise.
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For a joke Harry, encouraged by his mates Billy and Verity, makes a hoax call to the Fire Service to look cool.
The firefighter will:
- Explain that when appliances attend a hoax call the firefighters are not available for genuine emergencies
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| Caller identification |
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We know where you are Harry!
The firefighter will explain:
- Our technology gives us your location and telephone number
- We record your voice to use as evidence
- Dialling the prefix 141 does not block your identification
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In 2006-2007, SFRS received 422 malicious / hoax calls (mainly made by children who think it is a joke).
To reduce the problem the Fire Service has introduced a system entitled Call Challenging.
This procedure assists control room staff to verify a genuine call.
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The firefighter will explain:
- All calls register with immediate caller identification and your voice is recorded
- Your voice patterns are as individual as their fingerprint
- Remind them that the 141 prefix does not block caller identification
- Details will be passed onto the Police for further action and the recorded information can be used if a decision is made to prosecute you
- Call challenging embarrasses some hoaxers and they often hang the phone up when questioned, but we still attend half of the hoax calls
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We are educating you and we had a big reduction - through using call challenging we only actually attended 142.
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The firefighter will:
- Explain about the problems of hoax calls being on the increase with the young people owning mobile phones
- Ask them who has a mobile phone, ask them to name their server e.g. Virgin, BT etc
- Inform the children of the new developments and partnerships with mobile phone companies and SFRS
- Explain we text them stating that we are aware they have made a malicious call from this number and if it continues SFRS will approach their server and get their phone signal barred
- Explain that they will lose any credit they have on the phone and will be liable for prosecution.
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Remember we have your number!
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The firefighter will:
- Explain Harry is lighting fires in the park and that he knows its wrong, but he is experiencing “peer pressure”
- Ask what Verity and Billy are saying to Harry?
- Ask how Harry is feeling?
Remember lighting fires on purpose or deliberately is a crime and you could be charged with arson or criminal damage.
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| Age of criminal responsibility |
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The firefighter will explain:
- The age of criminal responsibility in this country is 10 years
- Everyone in the group will be either 10 or 11 years old and therefore of the age to be prosecuted
- Arson means to set a fire on purpose or deliberately and it is a crime
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- If they light a fire, it endangers people’s lives, and if they are caught and prosecuted, they may receive a maximum of 7 years in a young offender’s institute.
- If they light a fire on purpose or deliberately and it kills someone, they could receive a life sentence.
- If they are caught and prosecuted for making hoax calls then they could receive a custodial sentence.
You are now 10 years or over, remember arson and hoax calls are a crime.
The firefighters will ask if anyone has any questions and ask the children to remember the following points:
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Fire can spread fast, make sure you have a smoke alarm and an escape plan |
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Do not make hoax calls or start small fires in your community |
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A firefighter's job is to save you in an emergency and they get upset when they're sent to a hoax call because they are not available to rescue you from fires or road traffic accidents |
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The firefighters cannot be there quickly if the fire engine is delayed because silly people are making hoax calls or starting silly little fires in the park |
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Firefighters do not want to arrive too late to a genuine fire and bring you out in a body bag |
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The session ends by the sound of an air horn.
Further information
Lynn Hosking
Youth Officer
01743 260 257
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