FIRE AID at AidEx: Closing the Fire Gap Through Innovation
At AidEx 2026 in Geneva, the humanitarian sector was asking a familiar question: how can we achieve more with less? For FIRE AID, part of the answer lies in making better use of the resources we already have.
Doing More With What We Already Have
Funding cuts, localisation, innovative financing and private-sector partnerships dominated discussions at this year's AidEx, one of the world's leading humanitarian aid and disaster relief events.
The message was clear: the sector needs more innovative, sustainable and cost-effective ways to deliver impact. For FIRE AID, this is not a new challenge. It is the very problem our organisation was created to solve.
While fire and rescue vehicles and equipment are retired across the UK,, firefighters elsewhere are responding to emergencies without even the most basic resources. FIRE AID bridges this gap, giving surplus equipment a second life where it is needed most, alongside professional training and long-term partnerships. It is a simple but innovative model: turning surplus into life-saving capability, reducing waste and delivering greater value from every pound invested.
At AidEx, where innovation, sustainability and resource efficiency were central themes, FIRE AID brought a different perspective to the humanitarian conversation.
The Fire Gap: Where Is Fire and Rescue in the Climate and Disaster Conversation?
One of the most striking observations from AidEx was how little fire and rescue featured in discussions about disaster response, climate resilience and humanitarian preparedness. There was broad agreement on one fundamental principle: prevention and preparedness save lives, cost less and deliver better long-term outcomes than relying on emergency disaster response alone.
Yet despite the evidence, prevention remains incredibly difficult to fund.
The humanitarian system is still largely structured around responding to crises rather than preventing them. When disasters strike, significant resources can be mobilised rapidly, including expensive chartered flights, international personnel and emergency logistics. These interventions are sometimes essential, but they come at considerable financial and environmental cost.
Meanwhile, comparatively modest investments in local preparedness, equipment and training struggle to attract funding.
This contradiction was a recurring theme at AidEx. How do we shift donor priorities and political thinking towards investing in resilience before disaster strikes?
And this is where FIRE AID sees a significant gap.
- Health coverageMeasured
- School enrolmentMeasured
- Clean waterMeasured
- Fire & rescueRarely measured
If a community has no adequately equipped fire and rescue service capable of reaching it in a timely manner, that is a serious gap in its essential infrastructure.
Fire and rescue services are fundamental to disaster preparedness and climate resilience. They respond to wildfires, floods, building collapses and increasingly complex emergencies driven by climate change. Yet they are rarely central to international conversations about preparing communities for these risks.
We call this the Fire Gap: the failure to recognise and adequately invest in local fire and rescue services as an essential part of disaster preparedness, climate resilience and sustainable development. Closing this gap does not necessarily require enormous new investment. Often, it means making smarter use of the resources already available.
Localisation: Giving Communities the Tools to Help Themselves
Another major theme at AidEx was localisation: ensuring that communities closest to a crisis have the resources and influence to respond effectively But localisation should mean more than consulting local organisations. It should mean giving people the tools, skills and resources to protect their own communities.
Rather than repeatedly flying international teams and equipment across the world after disasters, why are we not investing more in the people who are already there and will remain long after international teams leave?
International emergency response will always have an important role, particularly when disasters overwhelm local capacity. But it should complement strong local services, not replace investment in them.
This is where FIRE AID's approach offers something different. By connecting surplus equipment with communities that need it, and supporting local training, we can strengthen emergency response capacity without the costs associated with purchasing everything new.
The most sustainable and cost-effective disaster response is one that communities are equipped to deliver themselves.
Moldova: £1 Invested, £8 in Value Delivered
The impact of this approach is perhaps best illustrated by FIRE AID's work in Moldova. When FIRE AID volunteers first visited the fire station in Edinet, firefighters were relying on water tankers dating back to 1967. The station had two vehicles, but only one had a working pump.
This was not a lack of commitment or expertise. It was a lack of resources. Through partnerships, surplus equipment and volunteer expertise, £150,000 in donor investment helped deliver approximately £1.2 million in programme value, including:
- 45Emergency response vehicles
- 63Road traffic collision rescue sets
- 5Ambulances
- 2Rescue boats
- 1,200+Emergency responders trained
The donated equipment has since supported over 15,000 emergency incidents and more than 250 extrications.
For every £1 invested, approximately £8 in programme value was delivered. More importantly, the training and resources remain within Moldova's emergency services, building lasting local capability.
This is precisely the kind of cost-effective, sustainable and locally led development model being discussed at AidEx, and one FIRE AID has been delivering for more than a decade.
First on Scene, But Too Often Left Out of the Conversation
When a building collapses, a wildfire spreads or a community is struck by conflict, local firefighters are often among the first to respond, long before international assistance arrives.
In Ukraine, FIRE AID works alongside firefighters responding to missile and drone strikes at enormous personal risk. In Ghana, donated rapid response vehicles are helping firefighters reach emergencies in communities previously difficult to access. Yet despite their essential role, fire and rescue services are too often overlooked in humanitarian planning and development funding.
Investing in these services is not simply about responding to emergencies. It is about protecting livelihoods, safeguarding infrastructure, strengthening resilience and building public confidence in essential services.
Investing in local firefighters is investing in the resilience of the entire community.
Bringing Fire and Rescue Into the Humanitarian Conversation
AidEx reinforced two things for FIRE AID.
First, the humanitarian sector is looking for exactly the kinds of solutions our model provides: innovative partnerships, smarter use of existing resources, reduced environmental impact and greater value for money.
Second, there is still considerable work to do to ensure fire and rescue is recognised as an essential part of disaster preparedness and international development.
FIRE AID occupies a unique position between the international fire and rescue community and the wider humanitarian sector. We are now working to expand our donation model across Europe, preventing more serviceable equipment from being scrapped and giving it a second life protecting communities.
As humanitarian aid and international development budgets face increasing pressure, the answer cannot always be to buy more or spend more. Sometimes, the most innovative solution is to recognise the value of what we already have and find a better way to use it.
Our aim is to see fire and rescue recognised alongside healthcare, education and other essential public services in development planning and investment.
Because closing the Fire Gap is not just about providing fire engines. It is about strengthening local services, making better use of global resources and ensuring communities have the capacity to protect themselves.
FIRE AID welcomes collaboration with humanitarian organisations, development institutions, governments and businesses committed to strengthening emergency response capacity through innovative and sustainable solutions. If you are interested in exploring partnership opportunities or working with us to make a lasting impact, get in touch with our team to start the conversation.
