FIRE crews in Glasgow are welcoming a new set of recruits - journalism students.

FIRE crews in Glasgow are welcoming a new set of recruits - journalism students.

Strathclyde University students are being assigned to the city's fire stations in a bid to help promote the positive work of the service.

They will work to spread Strathclyde Fire and Rescue's community safety messages across Glasgow.

The first-of-its-kind partnership will give students valuable work experience while helping the service.

Group Commander Tony Waters was the brainchild of the idea and he believes the scheme will help students, firefighters and the people of Glasgow.

He said: "I know I can command an emergency situation but I thought we could bring in people with the writing skills to send out information about important subjects like attacks on crews, hydrant vandalism or smoke alarms. This partnership is a win-win situation."

Students Emma Clifford and Iain Ferguson, both 21, volunteered to take part in the scheme for one year.

The pair say they're pleased to get the chance to work with the fire service while adding to their curriculum vitaes.

Iain said: "It's obviously a great cause and not something we would normally get the chance to do.

"While we're helping the fire service, we're also getting the chance to learn and hone our skills.

"Being told about the number of attacks on crews was eye-opening and hopefully we will help take steps to cut this."

The 14 undergraduate and postgraduate students have taken part in training at fire stations to get a feel for what life is like for crews.

They will each be assigned to a station and have to come up with ideas for publicising the work of Strathclyde Fire and Rescue.