Off-duty fire chief stopped group jumping into dangerous waterfall

ONE OF Yorkshire’s fire chiefs revealed how he was compelled to step in while off-duty and stop a young person being pressured into jumping into a dangerous waterfall.

Chief Fire Officer for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Andrew Brodie, happened across the group of friends “by coincidence” while taking a walk at Stainforth, near Settle, on Monday evening.

He recounted the incident from the night before as part of a discussion about water safety in the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner’s accountability meeting yesterday.

The waterfall, he said, was a “really dangerous piece of water”, and while walking by it he spotted four young people, who had clearly been swimming, pressuring another member of the group to jump in.

“[The young person] hadn’t been in as they were still dry,” Mr Brodie said.

“They were ready to jump in the water until I spoke to them.

“I was able to share with them the risks that they were going to face and asked if the risk of death was ‘worth the peer pressure you’re being put under’, and it stopped them from jumping.

“Their friends stopped jumping in as well. It was quite remarkable.”

North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan expressed concerns in yesterday’s meeting that the number of cancelled holidays and increase in ‘staycations’ over the summer meant there would be higher risk of people getting into danger in open water.

Mr Brodie added that he was “encouraged” by the work being carried out by the fire service to raise awareness of the dangers of swimming in open water, similar to the one he had with the group on Monday evening.

“That’s going to do more to avert the risk that people will drown or be injured in water than pretty much anything else,” he said.

“For me last night, it was pure coincidence that I was there.”