Have your say by choosing your local hero

Published 14th Oct 2024

Members of the public are being asked to vote for their police and fire service heroes in the 2024 Annual Awards.

The joint ceremony held by North Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service recognises outstanding work by officers, staff and volunteers of both organisations.

From bravery on the frontline to unsung heroes working behind the scenes to keep the people of York and North Yorkshire safe, the awards highlight the very best of the police and fire services.

Voting for the Public Choice Award is now open, giving members of the public the chance to decide who should win the coveted honour of being the ‘people’s choice’. The three finalists for each service have been selected from award winners in a variety of categories from both organisations.

Jo Coles, Deputy Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, said: “What an amazing range of nominees for the Police and Fire and Rescue Public Choice Awards – each and every one of them has clearly gone above and beyond the call of duty, sometimes over many years, to keep our communities safe and feeling safe.

“Reading them all is a truly humbling experience and testament to the extraordinary work and bravery of our police officers, firefighters and the wider police and volunteer team. I am really looking forward to seeing the winners announced at the Annual Awards event in November.”

Meet the nominees

Watch Manager Craig Lyons

Craig works within the Prevention, Early Intervention and Safeguarding Team. It can sometimes be not fully recognised, but the firefighters within Prevention have ‘dual’ roles: they can attend late-night/early-morning incidents, then have to be alert and ready for a day’s Prevention activity and commitments.

Among the challenges that Craig initially faced when he joined the Prevention team were an uplift recruitment programme, requirements for data reporting and assurance activities, attendance at partnership meetings and internal forums, whilst also attempting to manage the day-to-day delivery of prevention services to members of the public most at risk of being killed or seriously injured in our area.

Since joining the Prevention team Craig has demonstrate an unwavering resilience, a unique sense of humour, an endless supply of positive energy, an extraordinary amount of self-awareness and reflection, and an authenticity which is to be admired. Craig is not only emotionally, but also physically, passionate about his role in our department as a frontline practitioner/firefighter and as a manager. Craig has generously shared his personal experiences of neurodiversity (what we prefer to call in our team ‘neurofabulousness’) with others.

Craig truly lives our value of integrity and is comfortable challenging inappropriate conduct from other individuals (including partners). He is a team player, and an excellent manager. He has been instrumental in planning and delivering an extensive programme of induction for a diverse range of new starters into our department. The feedback from some of them being “this is by far the best induction I’ve ever experienced in my career” and “I’ve never felt so safe and welcome than I do here”. Craig has set a high standard, and also enabled our new people to feel a sense of warmth, belonging and family. He truly brings to life all our values.

Firefighter Shane Skaife

Shane is one of the most dedicated firefighters at Harrogate Fire Station, and during his long career he has never let his high standards slip. He continues to provide a professional, caring approach to working for the service and to serving his local community.

Shane joined Summerbridge Fire Station as an On Call firefighter 31 years ago. Throughout his years in service he has never lost his enthusiasm and desire to ‘do the job well’. He will often be found on both Harrogate and Summerbridge Fire Stations refreshing his own skills and encouraging others to join in. He enjoys developing the skills of those around him and going the extra mile to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to keep improving.

Shane regularly trains using Fire Service equipment to maintain both his fitness and competence. He can often be found at Summerbridge Fire Station, on his own, working through the lockers of the appliance, cleaning areas, and ensuring that standards are maintained to a high level.

Though his understanding of computers is limited (his strengths really are in his practical approach), he actively takes steps to work with others to ensure that work is recorded correctly. He undertakes Home Fire Safety Visits on his days away from shift. He does this to ensure that those further away from wholetime stations receive safety advice within a reasonable time scale of requests being received.

Over the past four years Shane has moved Watches to facilitate specialist training and is focussed on ensuring that the station has the correct skills to ‘do the job well’. Recently he has had the opportunity to work with a group of firefighters starting their careers, and he spends a great deal of time mentoring them, passing on his wealth of experience.

Station Manager Mark Upton

Mark continually supports the community in an array of areas outside his usual role profile.

As a keen motorbike enthusiast Mark is a member of the Fire Bike team and can continually be seen going out in his own time to support the Service’s key road safety messages targeted towards the biking community. This is carried out in a voluntary capacity, taking up hours of Mark’s personal time. He is a great ambassador for the Service in this capacity. He is eager to make a difference to some of the most vulnerable of our road users.

Andy’s Man Club is a men’s suicide prevention charity, offering free-to-attend peer-to-peer support groups across the country and online. They seek to end the stigma surrounding men’s mental health and help men through the power of conversation. Through his own personal battles with mental health, Mark has made far-reaching partnerships with those who support Andy’s Man Club.

Mark has organised clubs based at several fire stations that are also open to the public. This has been of benefit not only to some of our own staff but also the wider community.

His work around mental health does not stop there. He continues to support both Police and Fire colleagues through difficult times by organising events that help bring individuals together who think they are alone in these struggles.

Mark is a big advocate of supporting the LGBTQ community and is always present at Pride marches or other events wherever his support is needed.

Mark never looks for recognition for anything he does. He is modest about his work and does not realise the positive impact he has on colleagues, and the community as a whole, through the kind-hearted activities he carries out.

Cast your vote for the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service Public Choice Award 2024

Vote now

Please note, voting closes on Friday 25 October 2024. You will not be able to vote after this time.