Day 4- Thursday 4th April

8.47: 
-Made teas and coffees.
-checked emails.
-Read incident logs.

9.15: left work with Alison to drive to "Bartley Sailing Club".
This is where I spent the rest of the day.
- Waited for the fire fighters Tech Team who specialise in Water Rescue and for the CBBC to arrive from Salford, Manchester.

10.04: Crew arrived with the junior cadet children ages between 12-13 who had won a competition to star and participate in the second series of Hero Squad and then met the presenter for the show. The aesthetically pleasing, Rav Wilding. Who turned out to be one of the most arrogant men I have ever met. He did what he had to do on camera with a big smile on his face, then stood to the side and made no effort to make conversation with anybody.
The cadets got into their dry suits then acted out rescue scenarios in the water.
The days schedule ran over at one point and the team got worried they would not finish in time due to the weather being so cold. Also, one of the young girls when she entered the reservoir had a panic attack from how constricting the suit was on her neck combined with the freezing temperature. This delayed the team by approximately an hour as her temperature fell to below 34 so needed to warm back up.
The aim of hero squad is to educate children in safety within certain situations sire, ice and water safety.
I cannot disclose too much of the information on set as its confidential until the show has been aired. The producer, Laura, gave a talk before filming outlining the importance of taking no photos or posting anything about the location on social networking sites, this I thought addressed the professionalism within the industry and helped to ensure the privacy of the children.
I enjoyed seeing how the production team came together with the aid of the chaperone for the children. As the aim of the day was to finish the open water rescue, many of the filming was done off land so much of the communication was done via walky-talky.
Mine and Alisons job was to help dress our fire men, ensure they had tea and lunch and everything else they needed.
This involved a very bossy order from the producer, for us to go to the nearest supermarket and get food for the whole cast, with a preference of it being healthy.
We bought fresh soups, breads, ham, olives, fruit and nuts. It was then our job to make it up for everyone and clean up. We accepted the role as waiters for the day.
The BBC and Seven Trent Water were very strict on health and safety so much so that that everybody had to wear a life jacket even if not entering the water.
A particular highlight of the day was when one of our firemen turned the rescue boat suddenly and literally drenched Rav Wilding, of course hes too cool to wear water proof gear...Needless to say he did not look impressed.
Another job of mine, was to attach the GoPro cameras on the boats and on the childrens helmets. I ended up falling in love with the little pieces of technology and hope to buy myself one soon.

Here are some sneaky photographs I took of the day:

Day 3- Wednesday 3rd April

8.47: Made teas and coffees.
-Checked emails
-I had received one from a reporter at The Sunday Mercury enquiring about the relationship between the casualties union & the casualties simulation group, as in the reproters words, the WMFS had 'dumped' the union in favour of the C.S.G, Neil was unaware of the rift so decided we would look into it and follow it up:
* Union charges for their services.
* New group only ask for a milage.
* New group need a maximum of £300 a year to run, so often campaign in local supermarkets to try and gain more funding.

Here are the questions Neil and I wrote up to ask the head of C.S.G
1.) Have we swapped to using the services of the new group, if so why?
2.) What costs were/are involved? Have or will we be making any contribution to the new groups funds?
3.) Do we provide any sort of help, such as training or kit to either group, if so will this continue?

Here is the answers we got back, provided by Adrienne Jemmett:
Adrienne has been working with WMFS for over 10 years as a support group. Formally a member of the casualty union in Stourbridge but due to 'internal politics' was not happy with the group and decided to leave. She then went on to set up her own group known as C.S.G which is formed of approximately 25 males and females. The job of the group is to act out internal role play, such as casualty simulation and training in theatrical make-up.
The group receive a payment for incurred lineage to and from events, they share vehicles here possible to reduce costs. The WMFS make an annual payment to replenish make-up used by the group. The C.S.G purchase all their clothing resources required themselves from jumble sales and charity shops. All monetary claims are documented and vetted.
WMFS provide the group with uniform such as headwear for health and safety, glasses, coveralls and gloves. The C.S.G and the Union are both still used by the WMFS, usually the Union will be used for much larger operations as they are a bigger team, but more costly.

* I then talked to Neil about why he makes the decision of following up giving out information to media sources.
He stated that he almost always gives some kind of response even with sensitive issues but this does not always mean he answers the questions they have asked. He said if he does not come back with anything, it looks as though they have something to hide which could jeopardise the reputation of the organisation. Brand is everything to the WMFS afterall they are considered role models in society.

10.23: I was then asked to go around to speak to Wesley Williams who is head of emergency response and ask if he would like to do an interview with me at some point that day. He said he would do one with me, here is the outcome:

In this cynical age, firefighting remains a heroic and noble profession. The images of fire professionals we see on television and in film are often romanticised versions of day-to-day life on the job. There is much more to it than simply putting out a fire. So what is the life of a firefighter really like? Station Commander, Wesley Williams, from our Emergency Response Team explained.

What made you want to be a part of the WMFS’ and when did you decide on this career path?

“It started from childhood really. I remember a fire engine came into my primary school and when I sat in the front seat, I knew that was it for me.”  Wesleys passion carried on throughout secondary so in his final year when the careers advisors came in he asked about what it was he needed to do to become a firefighter. They instructed him to go to college and get a trade before he joined as the age requirement was 18, he chose Carpentry. Whilst on his course, Wesley become more physically trained and when he felt ready wrote a letter to the Fire Service recruitment board explaining what he had to offer and why he should be considered for the team. Following this he was put onto a two year waiting list and at 20 he was finally accepted. He stated when he received his letter as being one of the greatest feelings he has ever experienced, still to this day.

What sort of training process did you undertake in the early stages and what were the most challenging parts?
Wesley carried out a 13 week residential course situated at Radford Road Station in Coventry. “It was a statutory requirement to stay on base in the weekdays. We were only allowed to go home on weekends. I think this has changed significantly now”. Although the course was intensive and required a lot of determination he welcomed the hard work as not only did he learn new subjects he had never heard of before, such as Hydraulics, he also built foundations with a wide range of people and made a lot of new friends.
Wesley stated that one of the hardest challenges he was faced with during this stage of his experience was the hose running. “Ask any recruit who joined around the same time as me and they would say the same.”  This now involves running out and making up a 25 metre length of Fire Service Hose ten times consecutively but back when Wesley did this test, it was for the whole afternoon.

How did you get to the position you are today within the WMFS?
“It’s all comes down to experience, commitment, determination but above all patience. I’ve gone from being a firefighter, legal support officer, mobilising officer and now I am Station Commander of the Emergengy Response Team. I’ve spent over 9 years training in fire safety of the 25 I have been a part of the WMFS.” Wesley joined the mobilising team as it was out of his comfort zone. He enjoyed the challenge of facing something new. The job enabled him to engage with the highway agency and he spent a lot of time leasing with the central motor way police group.

Which roles did you take on throughout your time in the WMFS to get to where you are today ?
Roles: Special service calls, Mutual assistance, mobilising the emerges, look after standing order 13, manage the temporary special risks team, promoted to station commander in area, incident room manager for Gold Fire with principal officers.

How do you hope to progress further in the future and what specific roles within the WMFS would you like to try out?

Has the WMFS changed much since you first started, if so in which ways?
“Yes, it has changed significantly. The three main changes are firstly no bars, no beds.

In your opinion, what do you feel is the most rewarding thing about being a member of the WMFS?

What are the most important traits that a fire fighter needs to possess?
-Have the ability to adapt to any given situation.
-Know and understand the community you serve.
-Willingless to work with others to reach a common goal.
-Must be safety conscious.

What is the most challenging situation you have been faced with and in what ways did you go about handling the situation as a team?
I think the scariest situation I have ever been in was in Stourbridge about 15 years ago when a container of fireworks nearly blew me up. First off, we wasn’t in our area but were first on the scene and instantely we suspected something wasn’t quite right. There were 3 cars on fire next to the factory and random sparks were starting to emerge frome everywhere in the building. Then suddently the whole thing went up. They were industrial fireworks so they were massive, it blew out all the windows and everything. Somehow nobody was injured in the blaze. We were all so lucky. This incident made me a lot more cautious about my surroundings and I try not to take things for granted now. It influenced the change in how companies mark containers today.

Whilst Interviewing Wesley, I found it very difficult to write at the same speed as he was speaking, also I felt very nervous and quite intimidated asking the questions. Wesley was very understanding though as his daughter had just graduated from University studying Fashion Journalism. I feel he was a good interviewee as I got down a lot of information on his experience at the WMFS.
However, I struggled to write the article as many of the notes I wrote in a rush I could not make sense of. Much of my page was full of random words and it made me realise how hard the job of a journalist truly is.
* I plan to take classes in short hand writing.

1.15: LUNCH

1.30: Received email from Jeremy of Incidents back log from over the Easter break on the media voice bank.
He asked me to cut out the jargon and put it into simple english to put up on the media section of press releases on the WMFS website:

2.30: I took a visit to SafeSide which is the educational building for the WMFS.

I was able to attend an awards presentation with the head of ICT at NationWide who are in partnership with the WMFS to help fund it. 

* I felt quite young and unexperienced here, as everybody was dressed in full uniform and were very high up staff. In the middle of the presentation I had an uncontrollable coughing fit and tried to contain it which made it worse as I was letting out random sounds so had to get up and get some water in the speech which was very embarrassing. 

I was then shown around SafeSide.

Safeside is a state-of–the-art, scenario-based, experiential learning centre that provides an innovative, interactive and enjoyable learning experience, inspiring visitors to think and act safely.

It features a full size indoor street scene including road crossing, bus, train, canal, car, house, police station, court room, dark alleyway, food store and post office. Key issues of fire, road, water, travel and personal safety are covered along with input on vandalism, drugs and alcohol, consequences of crime, environmental responsibilities and what to do in an emergency.

Day 2- Thursday 28th March

8.45: Arrived at work.
Signed into computer and was instructed by Neil to check emails as he had forwarded on one he had received. It was from the BBC National TV & Radio for the 6 o clock news.  It stated that the reporter is planning to do a story looking at tower block safety in the light of the fatal fire at Lakanal House in Camberwell, South London, 2009 in which 6 people died (including two young children). At first, I was shocked that it had taken this long for the case to reach a verdict and that the BBC has only recently decided to make a report on it. Neil explained that these sorts of things take an extremely long time to reach a conclusion.
The BBC were keen to know the situation "RE: safety of tower blocks in West Midlands" as there is a large number of this type of housing in the surrounding area.
Here are the questions the BBC wanted information on:
1.) How many social housing tower blocks have been inspected between the years 2010/2011? Latest figures would be appreciated?
2.) From your most recent figures, i.e the best part of the past 6 months, how many faults have been found in your audit of social housing high rise buildings?
3.) How many enforcement notices have been issues, RE: Warnings or Enforcement notices issued against them on safety grounds and specifically fire safety grounds?
4.) What have local authorities told you they are doing about this?

Neil and I then compilled the answers to the questions with the use of statistics (which are now a crucial source of data used by the WMFS) and the help of the station commander from Highgate Station. I was not able to disclose the information given as it is confidential. All I can write here, is the notes I wrote down in my workbook.
Legislative Fire safety function inspected 17 of 947 between 2010-2012. 6 of these were satisfactory and 11 were unsatisfactory (this does not mean that the blocks needed to be closed down, however fire safety warnings were issued around the building) As more of the high rises had an unsatisfactory standard it is no wonder that the BBC reporter felt it important to carry out such an investigation. The low amount of high rises inspected by the WMFS was exceedingly poor, so instead of answering specifically about tower blocks, Neil included the statistics of ALL social housing that was in the area making the number sufficiently higher.
*I learnt that often press officers answer the questions to suit them to remain proactive to the organisation.

9.34 I went on a tour with Justine around the entire building. Learnt where Registry was which I was told I needed to remember as I was going to be spending a lot of time collecting parcels and letters there.
Now I had a basic idea of where specific areas were in the building I helped Justine sort through the long service pin badges and issued them out to work colleges from different departments.
I have now also learnt my own departments drink preferences based on the vast amount I seem to be making today:
Neil: Decaff tea, no sugar, splash of milk
Justine: Coffee, Milky, No Sugar
Alison: Hot Water, Own Teabag
Matthew: Coffee, 1 sugar, splash of milk
Jeremy: Coffee, 2 sugars, black
Ty: ....doesn't drink hot drinks :)

10.09: Asked to write my first tweet and Social Networking had never seemed so scary to me...
WMFS were working with Kerrang Radio on a charity event which requested us the accompany their team to visit the Childrens Home (for disadvantaged children) and give out Easter Eggs, with the possibility of delivering approximately 500 eggs! The fire service were also to take one of their engines for the children to have a bit of fun with.
I decided to write down a few ideas on Microsoft Word so I didn't make any mistakes.
Here were my three choices:
"Hippity Hoppity, Easters on it's way today"
"Easter Egg-citement this afternoon!"
"Another Eggscuse for chocolate today"
I used the middle one and made sure I # kerrang radio and wolves council

10.25: Started working with Elaine who is Head of the Campaign team.
Learnt that her main role was to educate people on community safety through advertising.
Her main point of call was for domestic fires (in homes)
Here is a sheet to show the WMFS targets met within each performance indicator:

As can be seen above, the WMFS are very effective in reaching their goals. Elaine then went over with me the "home safety check" which she had written up to take into homes in areas that are at a higher risk of house fires.

These are some of the questions asked, see above.

I was then shown some statistics of the areas in the West Midlands which had the most frequent fires and she told me some of the most common types of fires. Most were caused by leaving a saucepan on the oven and from cigarettes. It is Elaines job to ensure she brings these numbers down. There is no laws within a persons home that can stop them living how they do, so they must be educated in a neutral way about the risks they are causing to themselves, their families and their possessions. 

Elaine is control on the Stay Safe section on the WMFS website, this is available to the public and aims to teach people how to react in certain situations and their environments. 

http://www.wmfs.net/content/stay-safe

I was given a campaign plan calendar which highlights key events which take place throughout  the year which create a higher risk of fires, such an bonfire night and new years. This calendar is made for awareness but also to help Elaine meet the deadlines for appropriate timing of of her advertising. 

Here are some examples of successful types of advertising:

 She had created these with the help of the WMFS Graphic Designers, Ty, and the photographer, Aaron.
They have a large budget to help with this.
* I learnt that due to the recession, the team had been cut. Before it consisted of 4 other photographers who all got made redundant.

1.30: LUNCH

1.58: Worked with, Ty who is the Graphic Designer for the Marketing sector. It is his job to manage the other graphic designer, Dave and Aaron the photographer. He needs to make sure they meet their deadlines and produce their work to the highest standard as it often appears on posters,newspapers, adverts and billboards around the city.
I was shown spreadsheets he used to keep job lists that are in process and how its a necessity to keep everything on record of previous work and price lists.
He then showed me examples of the different styles of printing such as Lithographic and digital. I could see though it was more expensive, Lithographic was of a much better quality as less colours were saturated.
I was then shown the software the team use to edit their videos and images:
-Illustrator
-Indesign
-Photoshop
Ty uses Illustrator the most as it uses a Vector Graphic unlike photoshop. This means the image can be manipulated to any size which comes in handy when they making such adverts as a 40 page billboard as pixels aren't lost.
* I learnt that within a business it is vital to keep a list of contacts. For this example, it was with printing as it can be very expensive especially in the large quantities and quality the WMFS use as they get discount.

Here is an image of the form each person must fill out in order to apply for the teams services. They receive new projects every week, so often the waiting list can be quite long especially with such a short amount of staff now.

Day 1- Wednesday 27th March 2013 (First day)

6.45: Dragged my lazy bum out of bed, got in shower and made breakfast.
Breakfast: 2 weetabix and a white coffee
Made up my packed lunch consisting of a banana, ham sandwich, Go ahead Bar and Orange squash.
Put on my new dress and scarf, I had ironed the night before and set off for the bus stop.

7.55: Got on the 67 bus on route to Birmingham City Centre. I felt very nervous on bus journey as there was bad traffic and had butterflies the whole time. Got off the bus at Aston University and walked through the new business sector is search of Vauxhall Street. To my dismay, I came to discover that there was major road works which redirected me to an alternative route which added an extra 10 minutes to my journey time.  It begin snowing too, further adding anxiety to my stomach.

9.13: Arrived outside West Midlands Fire Service Headquarters on time. Quite impressed with the size of the building but also intimidated by the large reception area inside the main entrance. Went to the desk, as requested in email and asked to see "Justine Eustace, head of Public Relations". The receptionist signed me and gave me a visitors pass which I later learnt was a fob which gave me access to most rooms throughout the vicinity. (NOTE TO SELF: always keep pass on me at all times)
I was then escorted upstairs by a senior officer who was waiting for me near the desk and introduced to Justine. She sat me to my desk, with my own computer and gave me my personal log in information to access my email, incident details page and WMFS.NET account.


I was then introduced to the rest of the team who I would be working with over the three weeks.
Debbie- Communications Manager
Neil- Media Manager
Elaine- Campaign Manager
Ty- Marketing Manager
Aaron- Photography
Chris- Video Editor
Jeremy- Assistant Media Manager
Justine and Alison- Public Relations officers.
For my first day, I did most of my work alongside Neil.

First Impressions: Seemed like a friendly working environment. Received big smiles and felt instantly welcome with my nerves being put at ease. Also, it didn't seem to clicky.

9.42: Neil printed out my first incident details sheet. He explained that I had come in on a really good day to start out as at 5.02 that morning a serious fire at a Cash Converters had started on York Road, Kings Heath which was still on going when I arrived. I was instructed to read through the mobilising information in the incident log and try to get an understanding of what had happened. Due to the fire being so large this meant I had to sift through 18 pages of information. I started to highlight key points that I felt necessary and that the media may be interested in. The main points were usually printed in capitals which made it easier to digest.
- All key holders in the area had left the scene which confirmed there was no casualties. 
-  No press release had been issued by the police yet due to them treating the case as suspicious. 
- 8 pumps on scene. Around 40 fire fighters. 
- Road to remain closed all day. 70% of the building collapsed. Hazard to pedestrians. 
Neil then phoned through to head fire officer at the incident to check the progress who stated he was too busy to speak at that time, but would call back later.
We had no received any photos as yet but noticed that somebody had uploaded onto Twitter through the BBC WM which had been credited to the West Midlands Fire Service so Neil was slightly confused as to where it had come from. Neil requested that I make a phone call to the BBC WM and ask to speak to their Social Media Updater. At this point I became incredulously nervous again. I decided it was best if I write up what I was going to say in my work book before hand. Heres what I wrote:
"Hello, this is Laura calling from the Press Office at the West Midlands Fire Service, would I be able to talk to whoever is in charge of updating your Twitter feed please." a man then redirected me to speak to Sarah Reynolds, which panicked me further as I had to repeat what I said before, then add in, "well could you tell me where you received the photo from please."
The outcome turned out to be from one of the fire fighters at a near by station, Highgate. I then phoned through to that station to ask for the fire fighters name which I wrote down.
I was then made to send a thank-you to the firemen via email and to the officer in charge of that station to ensure he received recognition for the photograph. They then emailed me back which some other photos they had taken. Which can be found on their Twitter Feed.
https://twitter.com/WestMidsFire

10.46: We finally received the long awaited press release from the police, so now I helped Neil to write up our own one to put on the WMFS website.
This can be found at : http://www.wmfs.net/content/fire-kings-heath
Neil then made the media voice back which can be listened to on 0871 550 0056
Voice banks are released for the local radio, newspapers and radio. They give a short synopsis of the progress of the incident at hand.
We then started to get incoming calls from local newspapers who wanted to use the photos posted on our Twitter. We confirmed to allow usage as long as WMFS were credited.
I was then introduced to another member of the media team, Jeremy Baxley. We looked over some of the other incident logs he was catching up on from the night before.
(PHOTO OF INCIDENT LOG)
We then discussed Jeremy's relationship with local journalists  He explained how some push and push for names of victims, House Numbers for fires which is information that just cannot be given and how sometimes it can become difficult to separate his personal feelings for certain cases.

Data Protection Act vs Freedom of Speech.

Such as this case:
On 8th March, they were called out to a house in Stourbridge where a women had set herself on fire. It was concluded that she had mental health issues. Nothing could be released about this as it reactive not pro-active meaning they would gain nothing from it by making it public.

12.46: LUNCH

1.28: Had a meeting with Neil, Wes (head of motorway incidents) and two members of The Garden Productions Company who are currently at the research stage of a documentary they are making for the BBC on the M6 Motorway.
I was not allowed to take notes inside the meeting room or ask questions, however I gained a basic understanding of the television program in question.
The production team are planning to make a documentary on how all the organisations come together to work on accidents on the M6. These organisations include Highway Patrol, Ambulance Service, AA break down service and of course, Fire Fighters.
I do not drive, however learnt a far amount about the motorway. Here are a few examples:
- Due to mobile phones, incidents on the motorway are much harder to find as the callers are often passers by who are still on the move and due to having no landmarks when looking around find it hard to describe their location.
- In previous years, a person would make a report via the motorway phones which had location numbers on the actual box, so it was easier to track. Now they rely predominately on GPS satellites which are often incorrect and difficult to track with a moving signal. They also use Highway Agency Cameras.
- "The Clear Project"
- Special training given to those who are expected to be first on scene known as The DFA- Driver First Assist.
- Signs have a specific font which is easy to read and blue to stand out an done junction used wrong font recently which caused collisions.
Motorway has a special WMFS team:
- HASMAT Team
- Scientific support (investigate spillage)
-DIM team (Detect, Investigate, Monitor)

Garden Productions recently made "Keeping Britain Alive" and will be returning next week to work in the Fire Controls Room.

2.36: Back to reading more incident sheets and highlighting key points. Beginning to get the hang of it now.
- Went to the stock room with Alison to do some procurement. Counted uniform and sorted into sizes.

4.30: HOME