Team Blitz India
LONDON: The largest number of fire and rescue vehicles to date will deliver emergency firefighting aid to services in Ukraine next week.
A convoy including fire engines will leave Kent on April 30 and carry more than 2,800 pieces of equipment such as ladders, boats and breathing kits to the war-torn country.
The equipment has been donated by a partnership of 15 fire and rescue services (FRSs) from England and Wales.
More than 100 volunteers from the FRSs and organisation Fire Aid are taking part in the convoy, which has been sponsored by the Home Office. It is hoped the donations will provide a much-needed boost to Ukraine’s local fire services, which have seen nearly 400 fire stations destroyed and 91 firefighters killed since the war began, according to latest Home Office figures.
A total of 33 fire and rescue vehicles will form the convoy including two mechanics’ vehicles and one aerial ladder platform, which disperses water onto buildings from above.
Road traffic collision equipment, fire and water PPE and safe working at height kits are among the other pieces of equipment being sent. Home Office Minister Chris Philip said, “Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine has taken a toll on the brave people of Ukraine’s fire and rescue services, who have not just seen their equipment and buildings decimated, but (it has) also led to the loss of many heroic firefighters’ lives,” he said.
