3rd Washington Scout Group participated in the live fire demonstrations at Sunderland West Fire Station.  Above, Scouts receiving their certificates and below, hands on experience with Chubb Fire's Training Officer Bill Edwards.

1st June 2010
Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Service’s Sunderland West Fire Station played host to a party of local Scouts, visiting the station to complete their Chubb Fire Safety badge with a live fire demonstration.

The badge requires Scouts to understand what causes a fire, how to call the Fire Brigade, how to understand fire blanket and extinguisher usage, as well as fire safety for the home. In addition to a tour of the station led by Station Manager, Mark Perry, nearly 20 Scouts from the 3rd Washington Scout Group participated in the live fire demonstrations from Chubb Fire Training Officer Bill Edwards, in order to complete their badge qualification. John Pearce, Chubb Fire’s Local Business Manager at the Newcastle branch, was also in attendance to present the Scouts with their badges and certificates. 

Since its launch in 2004 more than 74,000 Scouts have received the Chubb Fire Safety Badge, making it one of the most popular of all scouting badges. In January Chubb Fire again renewed its three-year sponsorship deal with The Scout Association, including the provision of new educational literature and posters and a new online resource pack, to more than 7,200 local Scout Groups across the UK, as well as practical help from the company’s nationwide network of offices and engineers.

Jane Garland, Chubb Fire’s Marketing Communication Manager, explains: “Our expertise in the field of fire safety means that we can really offer The Scout Association some practical assistance in running the scheme. Each year our engineers service over four million extinguishers in the UK and we are keen to get involved in working with the Scouts and the community on a local level.”

Jane added: “The importance of fire safety simply cannot be emphasised enough, it is a sad fact that almost 13,500 people are killed or injured each year in fires in the UK, which very often are preventable. The Fire Safety Badge offers the Scouts some invaluable advice on fire prevention, detection and escape routes should a fire break out, so it is great to see so many young people participating in this badge, and hopefully taking away some vital knowledge to help keep them safe from fire in years to come.”