Firefighters teach fire skills to cut youth unemployment (From Haringey Independent)

Firefighters teach fire skills to cut Haringey's youth unemployment

5:00pm Wednesday 22nd February 2012 in Top Stories By Hermione Wright

Firefighters are teaching fire skills to unemployed young people in Tottenham in a bid to get them onto the employment ladder.

Eleven people from Haringey aged 18-25 are spending this week at the fire station in St Loy’s Road to learn transferrable skills which could help them in future employment.

The fire fighting course, which is the first of its kind in Tottenham, teaches the young people how to use ladders, breathing apparatus and hoses used by officers in a fire.

The training, which takes place between 9am-3.30pm each day, aims to improve the young peoples' discipline, confidence and team work skills, while offering them an opportunity to speak to fire officers about finding work in a variety of industries.

On Friday, representatives from the Job Centre Plus will visit the fire station to speak to the young people about future employment opportunities, both in and out of the fire service.

The Haringey borough commander, Richard Mills, said he will check on the progress of each of the eleven young people in three months time to find out whether they have been successful in finding employment.

Mr Mills helped to organise the scheme with LIFE, which is a group primarily focussed on cutting antisocial behaviour towards fire fighters.

Mr Mills said: “The challenges that some of these young people face is, because of their backgrounds, they don’t necessarily have the contacts – or an awareness of who these contacts are, to help them find jobs.

“If you are in a closed knit community, it is word of mouth and if you do not know where to go to in the first place to look for a job, it is a struggle.”

He said he is aware that helping a small number of people in Haringey is only “the tip of the iceberg” when it comes to the borough’s high level of youth unemployment, but wants to do what he can to help the situation.

The young people were selected by the Job Centre Plus, and on Friday, they will speak to staff at the fire station and at the job centre to help them find work in the borough.

Brendah Nangendo is one of two girls to take part in this week’s training.

The 26-year-old, from Seven Sisters, finished a forensic science degree at London South Bank University in July, but is yet to find employment.

She said: “The course has been very good fun. There has been lots of energy and it’s been great meeting new people.

“I did some fire modules while studying for my degree so I thought this would be a good thing to do.”

Miss Nangendo said the course means she is likely to look into forensic roles in the fire service because she would like to work outside.

A minimum of five off-duty firefighters teach the young people each day.

The scheme is jointly funded by Haringey Council and the fire service.

If the pilot scheme is deemed successful, four more work experience projects will run from April.