FIREFIGHTERS have recruited an unusual tool in their mission to get safety messages out to young people.

Officers at Didcot Fire Station have been leaving painted rocks around the town in the hope that people will pick them up and read the advice on the back.

Each person who finds a rock is encouraged to post a picture on social media and then hide it again for someone else.

Firefighter Gordon Daly said they came up with the idea whilst at a community day outside the Orchard Centre.

He explained: “We are always trying to educate people about the importance of fire safety and driving safely.

"We have posters and information boards but not many people stop to read them, and youngsters aren’t that interested.

“Whilst we were on our stall, a young girl was holding a painted rock and afterwards we thought we could do a similar sort of thing but with fire safety.

“Everyone has been using their very best artistic skills and getting their families involved in their spare time.

“We put them outside the fire station at first but then spread them out all over the town.

“We started out with one or two but the reaction has been so good that we’ve kept making more and more.”

Including messages such as ‘do not play with matches’ and ‘test your smoke alarm’, Mr Daly said children have been delighted to find the rocks whilst going about their day.

He added that Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue has contacted them looking to roll out the idea to other areas of the county.

He said: “It’s just a fun way to getting the word out there and if it helps a little bit then it is worth it.

“One has been found four times already and we have about ten circulating around the town at the moment.

“None of us are particularly skilled at drawing but we are all doing our best and I think they look quite good.

“The area we cover is only getting bigger and bigger and there is still only one fire station with 20 firefighters so we have to get a bit creative to get our messages out there to a wider audience.”

Mum Annie Purvis said: “My daughter found the house fire rock going into school and it made her day.

“After falling over on the ice it was a great distraction to stop the tears.

“It was a brilliant reminder to stay safe.”