October marks Black History Month. This month offers a chance for everyone to share, celebrate, and appreciate the significance of black heritage and culture. We have had some exciting plans and new initiatives driven by staff to celebrate and recognise this month.
Making history
On Saturday 12 October 2024, for the first time ever in Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service history, an appliance was made available and crewed fully by firefighters with heritage spanning across different nations, including Jamaica, Antigua, Dominica and Nigeria. The crew spent the day attending workshops, community engagement events, carrying out drills whilst being available for fire calls.
They utilised this opportunity to engage and interact with this community, sharing vital fire safety advice, exploring recruitment opportunities and sharing their accomplishment to inspire others.
Watch Commander John Williams shared:
“I was happy to be asked to be part of this year’s Black History Month Initiative – Crewing an appliance by all black firefighters. I saw firsthand the impression that it made on the local community, and it was great to see. Hopefully this can be a catalyst to more discussion about what benefits these types of initiatives and improving ethnic representation within our staff can give to Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service.”
Cultural Workshop
On Friday 18 October 2024, local community leader Folagi Fasanya from African Wonder Women (AWW) held an internal cultural workshop for our staff, this provided more of an insight into African culture through interactive learning, and inclusive participation whilst using craft materials to create jewellery.
BFRS Podcast
We have also recently published our BHM podcast via our YouTube channel. 5 members of our staff from both operational and support roles across the Service came together to discuss their own backgrounds, experiences and share what opportunities are available within the Fire Service.
Watch Commander Gavin Gillings, lead on the Black History Month initiative said,
“The idea behind this initiative was to create an impactful and meaningful body of work for Black History Month that would help in raising awareness of what it means whilst representing Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service and coming from an under-represented group.
I feel proud that much discussion, awareness and positivity have come from it. I would like to say thanks to the team that have assisted in the initiative.”
