FIRE AID strongly condemns the Russian invasion and stands with the people of Ukraine.

The events unfolding in Ukraine have provoked a strong sense of unity within our fire and rescue family. Fire and rescue services, individual fire fighters, charities, and suppliers have all been united in their desire to support our Ukrainians colleagues and the emergency services in the country. During the chaos of conflict, you will always find fire fighters who stay within the war zone, not to engage in battle, but to protect lives and property.

Over the last week, fire services from across the UK along with a network of charities and fire sector suppliers have worked tirelessly to identify equipment and resources to be donated to Ukrainian fire fighters in need. FIRE AID are now working to coordinate this response to the emergency situation in Ukraine.

So far, we have collected 15 fire appliances from services across the country along with 2500 sets of firefighter PPE. With the support of the National Fire Chiefs Council, Home Office, and the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) we will be aiming to deliver these donations directly to Ukrainian fire services (via Poland) in the coming weeks. This work has been funded by the FCDO and the FIA Foundation, as well as through a public appeal via JustGiving.

FIRE AID has been working closely with the State Emergency Services of Ukraine since 2012 to strengthen their capacity for post-crash response and emergency rescue. We have donated 11 fire engines, 12 road traffic collision extraction sets, over 4,000 sets of PPE, and trained over 250 fire fighters in Ukraine working in collaboration with their emergency services.