Safeside experience is a real life-saver

While it is home to shops and a building society, it also features a fire -ravaged house, a dangerous canal, a train and a bus.

This is Safeside, a specially-created interactive street scene which helps teach visitors about safety in and outdoors by letting them experience the dangers first-hand.

The mock-up scene is managed by West Midlands Fire Service and is housed in a building on the outskirts of Birmingham city centre.

More than 50,000 people have walked through its doors since it opened in 2008.

Staff at the centre hold courses throughout the school term for children in primary and secondary schools in the West Midlands that cover a broad range of subjects from drug use through to electrification.

They also provide parenting classes to advise people on the correct way to secure children in a car and prevent fires from happening in the home.

Robert Hattersley, the centre's manager, said: "Safeside has been a big success. Once a group visits, you can almost guarantee they will come again.

"The centre provides something for people that just can't be taught in a classroom and puts people in real-life situations without the dangers associated with it.

"The feedback we get from people is always very positive and we have even had firefighters from other countries come to visit us so they can replicate it in their own country."

As well as the normal everyday street scene, the road also contains half an intercity train and a railway crossing that was provided by Chiltern Railways, as well as a miniature court room.

It also has a fire-damaged room and a canal complete with an animatronic drowning boy.

Steve Vincent, Area Commander for Community Risk Reduction at West Midlands Fire Service, said: "The centre is a very important part of what we do as a service.

"Our officers regularly visit schools to talk about safety, but when kids come here they can experience the sound, smell and sights of an incident.

"When people come here they get first-hand experience of what it's like to be in a fire, or to be facing someone down a dark alley or having to rescue someone from a canal.

"It's not about lecturing people, it's about getting them to look at a situation and assess how dangerous it could be. Putting out fires is extremely important but preventing fires in the first place is just as vital." The building forms part of a £2.3 million structure in Vauxhall Road that includes the service's regional emergency call centre. Many of the props and vehicles in the display have been donated by companies including Land Rover, the Co-op and National Express.

The fire service has worked with partners from the police, ambulance services and local authorities in order to put the exhibit together.

Volunteers, actors from Birmingham School of Acting and serving firefighters help run the centre, which provides education on personal safety, fire safety and even financial safety to children, mothers and families. Christ the King Primary School in Kingstanding in Birmingham is one of hundreds of primary schools that experience the street every year.

Martin Breslin, a teacher at the school, added: "We can talk about safety and explain it in the classroom, but this allows children to experience it first-hand.

"They almost always remember certain things, which will hopefully help them later in life."

He said the highlight for most children seems to be a small alleyway, which is complete with a number of surprises to illustrate dangers.

Working with Nationwide Building Society the centre will soon start a course teaching children about the dangers of pay-day loans and how to manage their finances.

Mr Hattersley added: "We are always looking at ways to keep the course fresh and interesting for people and up to date.

"This latest course will just add to what we already provide."

The centre also hopes to open to the public during the school holidays in future.

It will allow groups of people to book on to a specific course on a topic they may have concerns about.

For more information visit www.safeside.org.uk.