North Yorkshire fire crews call for suicide scene training

The fire service says there has been a rise in call-outs to suicide attempts

Firefighters are calling for better training to help them support people at attempted suicide call-outs.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service crews say they have seen a "noticeable increase" in calls to suicide attempts, with 122 recorded since 2016.

A meeting of the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner heard crews had successfully "talked down" people on a number of occasions.

The meeting heard there was an opportunity for extra training.

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Mark Naylor, a station manager for the fire service, told the meeting "it's an area we could progress", the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

"There are negotiators within the police and they can come from quite hefty travel distances. Our crews can be there on scene within minutes," he said.

"Having been to a number of them in the past and successfully got people down I think the fire service are - I wouldn't say more likely to get people down - but due to the fact that we are not the enforcer, we can try to be that friendly person."

He said there was "an opportunity" for officers or crews to get extra training to help them at attempted suicide incidents.

A spokeswoman for the fire service said: "Operational crews have seen an increase in recent times in the number of calls received to support police and other emergency service colleagues to deal with attempted suicide incidents, particularly from heights.

"Whilst our role at these types of incident is usually to provide access, crews would benefit from having some mediation training to learn how to engage and talk with suicidal people.

"We believe that is vitally important that we provide support for our crews so they can deal with these difficult and challenging situations."