A group of firefighters from Mid Wales have been driving a fire engine all the way to Ukraine as part of a special delivery.

Chris Birdsell-Jones, who is general manager of Oswestry’s Wynnstay Hotel and a retained firefighter in Welshpool, where he used to run the Royal Oak, swapped his desk for a fire engine bound for Ukraine.

He and eight other firefighters from Mid and West Wales were among more than one hundred members of the British Fire Service from fire stations all over the country who delivered thirty-three appliances to fellow firefighters in Ukraine border.

Mr Birdsell-Jones said: “The convoy included eight incident command units, several other support vehicles, and thousands of pieces of kit, all vital when handling an emergency.

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“We all rendezvoused at Ashford in Kent before driving from France into Belgium, though Holland into Germany and on though Poland to the Ukraine border where we handed over all the appliances and kit to our Ukrainian colleagues.”

The 55-year-old joined hundreds of other firefighters as part of the operation, organised by the Home Office working in partnership with FIRE AID, NFCC National Resilience, English and Welsh fire and rescue services (FRSs), Fire Aid and the Fire Industry Association. 

(Image: Nigel Heath)

The vehicles and equipment will join other provisions supplied to Ukraine since their fire and rescue services have been decimated by the impact of the ongoing war with Russia.

Since the Russian invasion began in February 2022, 396 Ukrainian firehouses have been destroyed, with 92 more now in occupied territory. Over 1,600 fire vehicles have been destroyed, while 91 firefighters have been killed, with a further 349 injured.

Chris added: “The journey of over 2000 kilometres took five days and we were hosted by fellow firefighters all along the way sleeping in all manner of accommodation including an ice rink floor,” he said.

(Image: Nigel Heath)

“Since Ukraine was invaded some 91 firemen have lost their lives and over 340 have been injured while nearly four hundred fire stations and over sixteen hundred appliances destroyed.

“It was a tremendous honour and very humbling to be part of the convoy.”

The convoy was made up of 20 fire engines, eight incident command units, one aerial ladder platform and one 4x4 vehicle, two mechanics vehicles, and an HGV carrying over 2,800 items of surplus equipment.