We’re immensely proud of our staff’s dedication and commitment in supporting the people of Ukraine along with our colleagues in the Ukraine Fire Service.
Our staff have provided support to local community groups by setting up Goole and Scunthorpe fire stations as donation points for items that will be processed and sent to Ukraine refugees in Poland. Alongside this we are helping colleagues at Humber Rescue who have set up the donation centre in Hull. Our staff have been overjoyed with the response from the public donating items and hugely grateful to everyone’s support.
Members of staff are also volunteering their time to help the FIRE AID charity by taking the Service donations of thousands of pieces of fire kit (tunics and trousers) and a fire engine to our colleagues in the Ukraine Fire Service. We also extend our thanks to Howdens Joinery, who have provided support through their members of staff helping sort and pack the fire kit ahead of it being dispatched.
Our donations are part of a UK effort through the National Fire Chiefs Council, which has resulted in UK fire services donating thousands of items of kit and equipment. The deployment of these donations is being supported by funding from the Home Office, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, and the FIA Foundation, as well as through a public appeal via JustGiving.
Chris Blacksell, Chief Fire Officer said: “I’m enormously proud of staff’s dedication and support, and that we are part of a national effort for the people of Ukraine and their firefighters, and other emergency services who risk their lives to help protect the communities they serve.
This isn’t the first time Humberside Fire and Rescue Service has supported FIRE AID, in 2018 we sent two fire engines and provided training to Ukraine Fire Service. The kit and fire engines we’ve donated have reached their end of life in our replacement programme, but are fully serviceable for others to use, especially in the current climate where any resources to support emergency services in the Ukraine are vital.”
There will be staff who will be directly affected by the events in Ukraine, alongside our local communities and my thoughts are with them all, as they await news of loved ones and the places they grew up in and call home.”
Humberside Fire and Rescue Service has recently replaced its staff fire kit as part of a regional procurement process with South and West Yorkshire Fire Services and had planned to donate the previous kit to registered charities, such as FIRE AID to help our emergency service colleagues across the world.
We continue to stand side-by-side with the people of Ukraine and our Ukrainian communities across the Humber region. Current events are a humbling reminder to us all that firefighters across the world, and especially those in Ukraine, put their lives at risk each and every day, ultimately wanting to protect the communities they serve.