Latest news with #SouthYorkshireFire
BBC News
2 days ago
- Climate
- BBC News
Fire warning after blaze narrowly avoids Barnsley farm
Police have issued a warning about dry weather after a fire the "size of a football pitch" narrowly avoided destroying a farmer's crops in South fire in Barnsley on Thursday could have caused "tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage" had emergency services not seen it in time, South Yorkshire Police said. The force said teenagers were seen running from the bottom of the field but officers were not able to reach them in time.A spokesperson said: "What you may think is a joke or a prank affects people, their livelihoods, property and wildlife." They added: "If we catch anyone causing this type of damage, we will prosecute with the full force of the law, young or not."According to police, the fire on a patch of land above Grange Lane was being blown towards Quaker Lane when officers called South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue services put out the fire but warned that due to recent dry weather, fields could "go up like a tinder box".A police spokesperson said: "Farmers work hard throughout the year to bring food to your table. Without them, we would be in trouble."The potential threat to life, wildlife and property should not be underestimated."We saw several birds and animals that, unfortunately, we couldn't help or save but had been affected by the fire." Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North
Telegraph
04-06-2025
- General
- Telegraph
LGBT Pride Month has become a pointless embarrassment
See if you can make any more sense of this than I can. The other day, the official Facebook page for South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue posted a photo showing three employees wearing face paint. Two were plastered with the rainbow colours of the Pride flag, and the other with the pink, blue and white of the transgender flag. And here's the message that ran alongside. 'We're proud to stand with our LGBT+ communities this Pride season and beyond,' it said. 'Fire doesn't discriminate. No matter who needs us, we'll always be there.' A noble sentiment. My only question is: what on earth was the point of it? I mean, of course the fire brigade will 'always be there' for LGBT+ people whose houses have caught fire. That's always been the case, even back in the dark, distant days when homosexual acts were illegal. To the best of my knowledge, no one calling 999 to report a blaze at their home has ever been ordered to state their sexuality. ('I'm awfully sorry, sir, but in that case we can't help you, I'm afraid. We only put fires out for red-blooded heterosexuals.') What this message was intended to achieve, therefore, is sadly lost on me. Still, no doubt there's more such bafflement to come. The whole of June, after all, is Pride Month. And what was once a vital means to campaign for equality has long since descended into an orgy of competitive virtue signalling by members of what the anti-woke Labour peer Lord Glasman has so memorably dubbed 'the lanyard class'. As in: the preening elitists who seize every chance going to parade their moral superiority. Here's another example. This week, Air Canada opened Pride Month by advertising its first-ever 'all-2SLGBTQIA+ flight'. In other words, every member of the crew was one or more of the following: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, 'queer', intersex, asexual, or 'two-spirit' (that is, someone who subscribes to the American Indian belief that the body contains both a 'masculine spirit' and a 'feminine spirit'). Congratulations to all involved, naturally. Again, though, I can't help wondering what the point was. It surely can't have meant much to the average passenger. In my own experience, at least, few holidaymakers refuse to board a flight until they've ascertained the exact number of ancient tribal spirits currently inhabiting the pilot. And to be frank, I don't see how it helped the staff, either. Since when has there been a shortage of job opportunities for gay air stewards? Back in Britain, even the head of MI6 has been joining in. In a statement, Sir Richard Moore announced that 'MI6 is proudly flying the Pride flag from Vauxhall Cross, alongside the Union flag, for the whole month of June. Your sexual orientation is no bar to you working and thriving at MI6.' Once upon a time, of course, it would have been. But how many people imagined that this were still the case, in 2025? And while we're on the subject: is it really essential for Sir Richard to declare on his social media profile that his pronouns are 'he/him', as if he were some blue-haired student, rather than the 62-year-old chief of the nation's foreign intelligence service? We already know he's a 'he'. The 'Sir' was a bit of a clue. Otherwise he'd be Lady Richard. In the United States, at least, times are changing. According to Newsweek, there's been a big drop in corporations jazzing up their logos in Pride colours. Perhaps their CEOs fear being ridiculed by Donald Trump. Or perhaps too many customers twigged that it was all just a load of empty spin (having noted, for example, how few of these corporations used Pride logos in their Middle Eastern markets). In Britain, however, the lanyard class remains scrupulously observant. Yet it's hard to avoid the sense that the wider public is starting to feel patronised. Of course homophobia still exists. Like all forms of prejudice, it always will. But under the law, people who describe themselves as LGBTQIA+ have the same rights, these days, as everyone else. So when a business preaches about inclusivity, it's difficult to see what it's trying to accomplish – other than to earn some easy applause. All of which is why Pride Month increasingly feels like a pointless embarrassment. No longer a platform for the powerless to speak out – but for the powerful to show off.
BBC News
09-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Second fire at Ings Lane Social Club in Bolton upon Dearne
A fire has broken out at a derelict sports and social club for the second time this were called to a large blaze at Ings Lane Sports & Social Club, in Vancouver Drive, Bolton upon Dearne, at 23:00 BST on Thursday.A spokesperson for South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said while smoke had reduced since the fire broke out, residents were advised to still keep their doors and windows engines remained at the scene on Friday morning, with no injuries reported and the cause under investigation, the spokesperson added. It comes after crews were also called to a fire on Tuesday, with the fire extinguished at 04:00 BST on to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
BBC News
07-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Derelict social club blaze tackled in Bolton-upon-Dearne
Firefighters tackle derelict social club blaze Firefighters tackled the blaze at the former venue in Bolton-upon-Dearne Crews have tackled a fire at a derelict social club in South Yorkshire. South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue was called to the blaze at the former venue on Vancouver Drive, Bolton-upon-Dearne, late on Tuesday night. Crews from Dearne, Adwick, Rotherham, Cudworth and Parkway were in attendance, it said, with the fire extinguished by 04:00 BST. The cause of the fire was under investigation, with the service praising all involved for their "swift response".
