Community Fire Cadets (CFC) is an 18-month comprehensive education and development scheme aimed at young people aged 14-18, allowing participants to take part in fire brigade led activities at a local fire station one evening per week.
The scheme was developed in Tower Hamlets and has now been adopted as a corporate initiative with the view to making it available in a number of other boroughs, based on local need and resources. The first two programmes started in February 2009, in Tower Hamlets and Hackney, and the next will launch in Bexley in September 2009.
It is externally funded and uses referral agencies to contact young people who would benefit most from engagement with the programme. It is facilitated both by front-line firefighters and non-operational staff from within the Brigade, with external subject matter experts coming in to cover specific activities or topics. The course lasts for 65 weeks and follows school terms and the academic year.
Community Fire Cadets reflects the wide variety of skills today’s firefighters are expected to use. Teamwork, problem solving and communication feature throughout as well as activities which prepare young people for adult life by teaching them about healthy living, handling money, job application techniques and community projects.
The syllabus is divided into a range of topics and subject areas and has the additional benefit of being aligned to a nationally recognised qualification; the ‘Edexcel Level 2 BTEC in the Fire and Rescue Services in the Community’. This will provide Cadets with the potential to achieve a real educational outcome alongside the practical skills they pick up.
The scheme welcomes young people from a mix of gender, ethnicity, backgrounds, and abilities and provides positive opportunities to improve community cohesion, reduce anti-social behaviour and enhancing key citizenship skills. Cadets will gain the confidence to interact with their community and become ambassadors, teaching people the importance of fire safety and the consequences of anti-social behaviour like arson and making hoax 999 calls.
It is also hoped that young people from socially deprived areas will get the opportunity to develop skills that will be of use as they enter employment, including confidence, teamwork, communications skills and discipline.
Community Fire Cadets extends the Brigade’s award winning youth engagement programme which also includes ‘LIFE’, an intensive week long course for young people involved in anti-social behaviour or at risk of crime. As with LIFE graduates, it’s hoped that the Brigade’s Cadets will prove to be a credit to themselves, the Brigade and their local community.
