Agenda item

To receive the Chairman’s announcements (if any).

The Chairman to receive a presentation of the Armed Forces Employer Recognition Scheme Silver Award from Station Commander RAF High Wycombe.

The Chairman announced that to mark the twentieth anniversary of the September 11 2001 tragic event and to raise funds for the Fire Fighters Charity, and the Stephen Siller ‘Tunnel to Towers’ Foundation, a team of 17 operational firefighters from West Ashland Fire Station organised a 6km run from the Blue Light Hub to the Xscape Building, Central Milton Keynes, before ascending the 198-step stairwell to a height of 140ft and descending to the finish line. The 17 Firefighters wore their full personal protective equipment, with breathing apparatus and a length of fire hose, weighing over 35kg. The team were joined by support runners and volunteers from across the Service and from Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire fire and rescue services, Thames Valley Police, and South Central Ambulance Service. The event was covered by local and regional media including ITV Anglia. The event raised over £7,809 for the Fire Fighters Charity and £605 for the Stephen Siller ‘Tunnel to Towers’ Foundation. This far exceeded the initial target and enabled the Service to meet the Firefighters Charity fundraising objective of £7,000 for 2021.

The United Kingdom Rescue Organisation (UKRO) held the Festival of Rescue challenge on the banks of the River Tyne in Newcastle on the 17 and 18 of September 2021. This annual event attracts competing teams from across the UK where they were given the opportunity to showcase their abilities while competing against their colleagues from other fire and rescue services. The event was split into five distinct areas, one for each of the disciplines involved in the competition. These disciplines included Rope Rescue, Vehicle Extrication, Water Rescue, Trauma challenge, and the main event that the Service competed in, the USAR challenge. A team of seven was selected from Aylesbury Fire Station and included at least one representative from each of the four Watches. The USAR teams were marked against four gruelling two and a quarter hour challenges where they needed to break through concrete, support a coach on its side, crawl through tight and obstructed tunnels to rescue a live casualty and render trauma first aid, carry out a technical search of a simulated collapsed building and then move a quarter of a tonne concrete block around a complex obstacle course. Once the final challenge had taken place, the weary team packed up their kit and returned for a much-needed shower before attending the awards ceremony in the heart of Newcastle City Centre. What unfolded was a clean sweep for the Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service (BFRS) USAR team as they won all four categories after achieving the highest score amongst those taking part. The categories were, Best Incident Commander - BFRS Alan Still, Best Medic - BFRS Rhys Price, Best Technical Team – BFRS, Best overall Team – BFRS. Congratulations to everyone who took part.

Over twelve months ago, the Authority signed up to the Armed Forces Covenant. Based on its commitment to support this initiative, the Authority achieved the Bronze Award in the Employer Recognition Scheme, and after demonstrating further its commitment to support its Armed Forces Community, it had now achieved the Silver Award. The Service was working in partnership with the two Councils, Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes, to introduce Drop-in Centres. These were safe places for veterans to come for advice and support from a variety of partner agencies and charities or just meet up with some people who have had similar life experiences, over a coffee and sandwich. The Service ran a pilot event at Marlow Fire Station which was a huge success and there were plans to run another one at the end of this month. We aim to develop this further, continuing in partnership with the two Councils and introduce these Drop-in centre events across three locations: High Wycombe, Aylesbury, and Milton Keynes. Furthermore, we are also supporting Armed Forces Cadet associations, in partnership with Buckinghamshire Council, the aspiration is to use Aylesbury Fire Station for cadet training in the future. Where we can, we will provide facilities for 1-1 clinical advice for the veteran support network and NHS services where veterans occasionally need a room to carry out clinical consultations. Delivery of the Armed Forces Covenant will contribute toward ensuring the Service maintains its promise through the People Strategy. It gives me great pleasure to welcome the Commander for RAF High Wycombe, Group Captain Philip Arnold, who will present the Silver Award to the Authority today.

Group Captain Arnold presented the silver award to the Chairman, Vice Chairman and Lead Member for People, Equality and Diversity and Assurance, the Chief Fire Officer and Deputy Chief Fire Officer.

Group Captain Arnold thanked the Chairman and Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service for opening up fire stations to veterans, the Chairman responded.

(Group Captain Arnold left the meeting)