A FIRE crew in York has launched a new online initiative to help educate young people on the fire service and how they work day-to-day.

Acomb Fire station have launched the ‘Ask a Fire Crew’ campaign on Facebook and Twitter

The aim of the campaign is to reach out to children, allowing them to send in any questions they may have regarding the fire service, which are answered with videos posted onto the fire crew’s Facebook page.

The service have launched the campaign as they are unable to go into schools to educate children due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Mike Sutcliffe, Acomb Fire Station Crew manager, said: “We want to be able to interact with members of the community during these difficult times.

“The lockdown measures and social distancing rules that are in place has stopped us visiting schools and talking to the public in a way that we are accustomed to.

“This initiative is a way for us to answer any questions people may have, especially children and is a good way for us to get our safety messages out there.

“It has been a great success since we launched it, having received plenty of questions and letters of thanks.”

The initiative was launched last week and has had a number of responses already.

Some of the questions they have had so far include ‘How long does it take from receiving a fire call to get ready and turn out?’ ‘How fast does a fire engine go?’ And ‘’how do we put up our ladders?’

The answers to the questions are posted onto the social media platforms in video form, which allows those who asked the questions to have a detailed visual response rather than just through text.

This also allows the firefighters from the station to give a demonstration on how certain equipment they use works.

To submit a question, search for ‘Acomb Fire Station’ on both Facebook and Twitter and send the question in a message.

Children should get help from parents or guardians before sending in their questions to the fire station.

Acomb Fire Station crew provide emergency cover to Acomb, York and the rest of North Yorkshire.