Wisbech Firefighters address the needs of the vulnerable in the community

Following attendance at a number of Road Traffic Collisions along the A47, Wisbech firefighters found a pattern in those involved in the accidents.

Having identified a migrant community living in poor conditions on the side of the road and commonly involved in the incidents, the crew launched a community safety initiative to help them stay safe and to be seen during the dark nights.

The crew obtained a number of high visibility jackets and distributed them free of charge to help ensure that when walking along the busy road, wearers would be seen by oncoming traffic. The crew reached out to the Rosmini Centre, Wisbech, for support in how to engage the community and visited the centre recently to distribute the jackets to people at the centre.

Watch Commander Phil Pilbeam said:

“We spend a great deal of time out and about in our communities identifying and supporting the most vulnerable people and this is no different. After identifying the trend in the incidents we were responding to, we discussed and came up with the idea of providing hi visibility jackets for free to those who’d benefit from them. This will now help keep these people visible, and safer, during the dark nights.

Hopefully, this initiative will allow us to work more with the variety of communities in Wisbech and improve access to them to share safety messages and important information in the future.”

Find out more about the centre and the support available by visiting their new website here.