London Fire Brigade will be working closely with Newham’s Eastern European residents as part of a fire safety project designed to build links with communities across the capital.
The Brigade’s ‘Fire Community Safety Officers project’ involves 13 community engagement specialists targeting some of London’s many diverse communities with information on how they can protect themselves from fire.
Working alongside the Brigade’s Borough Commander for Newham, John Talbot, and firefighters at East Ham, Plaistow, Silvertown and Stratford Fire Stations, Fire Community Safety Officer Harvey Sahota will be talking to the borough’s Eastern European residents and visiting community organisations.
The project, called Safe Living in Newham, will aim to further develop the Brigade’s links in this particular community and raise fire safety awareness, particularly by encouraging smoke alarm ownership and promoting Home Fire Safety Visits.
Harvey will also be working with the borough’s firefighters to raise their cultural awareness of Newham’s Eastern European community.
Borough Commander John Talbot said: “It is one of our priorities as a fire brigade to prevent fires from occurring in the first place, by making sure all of the capital’s diverse communities have access to information about fire safety
“One of the most important services we offer are free home fire safety visits. Once we’ve made an appointment, local firefighters will visit your home and talk about fire risks. We’ll give you information on how to prevent fire and how to escape if one breaks out in your home. We will also fit free smoke alarms if you need them.
“By undertaking this work with the borough’s Eastern European community we will be able to explain how people can protect their homes and businesses from fire.”
Note to editors:
•Similar successful fire community safety projects have already been carried out with Hackney’s Vietnamese community, the Chinese community in Westminster; Camden’s Somalian community; Ealing’s Muslim community, Kingston’s Korean community and the Portuguese community in Lambeth.
•To arrange a free home fire safety visit please call 08000 28 44 28 quoting ‘Newham 10’. Appointments arranged at a time that suits you. Translation assistance may also be provided where necessary.
Members of the media can obtain further information from the press office on:
telephone number: 020 8536 5922
email: press@london-fire.gov.uk
