Fire Safety at Adults Learning Disability Event

Written by Apprentice CSA Chris Toon

GMFRS was given the chance to help at an event last week for one of our more vulnerable groups within our society, which was one of four to be run across Greater Manchester throughout the year for adults with learning disabilities.

Trafford Community Learning Disability Team held the event for adults with learning disabilities and their carers. The event was held at Partington community centre from 10am late into the afternoon in an effort to raise awareness of the issues many people with disabilities face and also to provide them with information and safety advice to help them in their daily lives.

There were various stalls and activities set up in the room including free fruit smoothies, healthy eating advice, getting your blood pressure checked by the NHS nurses, dental care advice, a stall from Mencap, information from Greater Manchester Police around hate crimes and Fire Safety from ourselves.

We brought a lot of equipment with us to suit the various needs of some of the attendees. We brought our projector which played two videos on a loop for the audience throughout the day. The first was an adapted version to our Fire Safety in the Home presentation while the second was a fire safety video made with and starring several individuals with disabilities themselves, so was easier to relate to for the audience.

We also brought photos of our firefighters in action to give a visual representation of what they do and how they work. We had laminated versions of Spot the Hazard which many of our visitors got involved in as well as our interactive house on the wall where people can stick up the cut out smoke alarms and fires and place them where they thought best. This also allowed us to practice escape routes so the individual could learn the best route out of a fire.

We also brought some smoke cubes with us so that people there were able to get an idea of what it smelled like to be in a fire in preparation in case it should ever happen to them so they know what to expect. We had to wrap them up in several carrier bags over and over as they started to make the whole room smell of smoke!

It was a great event overall and we managed to educate a lot of people about fire safety and helped learn how to spot hazards in their own home. There will be future events coming up later in the year around Manchester and hopefully we will be able to keep supporting this great event and sharing our safety messages with the public.