Leading the way on social inclusion

Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service have announced that they are participating in an EU initiative to help firefighters use their position as role models to promote social inclusion within the community. As part of The Firefighters Plus project, which started last month, agencies from across Europe, including fire and rescue services, will develop a multi-lingual online training course which will be tested by firefighters from the UK, Denmark, Poland, the Netherlands and Spain. This sounds like a brilliant project- firefighters are such an important part of the local community and it is great to see Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service use their position to develop social inclusion in our area. The second project meeting will be held in Northumberland, and I am delighted to see Northumberland's firefighters lead the way on social inclusion, a subject very close to my heart.