EMERGENCY SERVICES JOIN FOR LEICESTER PRIDE MARCH
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service and Leicestershire Police are joining forces for Leicester Pride on Saturday 2 September to represent the LGBT+ community within the emergency services.
Both Leicestershire Police and Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service value and strive towards a diverse, equal workforce where employees from all backgrounds, religions, cultures and sexual orientations are represented and treated equally. Our aim is for our workforces to represent the diverse communities we serve.
Red Watch at Central Fire and Rescue Station will be flying the rainbow flag on station, and participating in the activities throughout the day in support of this year’s Pride.
At Leicester Pride, our presence aims to not only show our support to the LGBT+ community, but also to engage with Pride-goers with advice surrounding road safety, crime prevention, knife crime, and home fire safety. The event will be covered on both the Service and the Police’s social media channels, using the hashtag #999Diversity.
Everyone is encouraged to come and visit us at our stall, situated to the right of the dance tent in the corner, where we have numerous stalls and attractions, such as a photobooth, virtual reality goggles, batak, Fire Bike, armed response vehicle, The Fire Fighters Charity stall, knife arch and lots of challenges with prizes. We are also pleased to announce, for the first year, we will be presenting an acoustic set of songs by the Police/Fire band.
Steve Lunn, Chief Fire and Rescue Officer of Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “As a Service, we strive to represent the communities we serve through embracing diversity at events such as Pride, demonstrating the Service’s inclusive attitude.”
“Through marching at Pride, we hope the underrepresented sections in our community recognise our open-minded acceptance to every person in our communities, and hope to remove any barriers to the service we provide”.
Assistant Chief Constable Phil Kay, who is currently seconded to the College of Policing, said: “I will be proud to march at the fantastic Leicester Pride again on Saturday. This year, my colleagues and I will be marching in uniform for the first time, albeit with a rainbow twist!
“I am extremely proud that Leicestershire Police is the highest ranked UK police service in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index. Pride gives us all an opportunity to celebrate diversity, and to visibly show Leicestershire Police’s support for the LGBT+ communities of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland and our LGBT+ colleagues.”
About the Service
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service provides emergency response, prevention and protection services from 20 stations across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. Its headquarters is based in Birstall, Leicester.
The Service’s prevention, education, enforcement and inspection programmes have resulted in significant reductions in the number of incidents. In the last ten years, fire related incidents have reduced by 46 percent.
During 2015/16, the Service attended 666 road traffic collisions, of which 174 were extrications freeing 208 people trapped inside their vehicles and completed 5086 home fire safety checks, fitting almost 4481 smoke alarms. Staff organised or supported almost 1431 events aimed at promoting fire and road safety and arson prevention, whilst also visiting 332 schools to deliver fire and road safety education to pupils.
Contact
Libby Wales
Corporate Communications
0116 229 2195
corporate.communications@lfrs.org
