The Fire Fighters Charity

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Please donate by going to the website www.firefighterscharity.org.uk/ or by calling 01256 366 566. If you’d like to post a donation please make your cheque payable to ‘The Fire Fighters Charity' and send it to 'The Fire Fighters Charity, Level 6, Belvedere, Basing View, Basingstoke, RG21 4HG'.

The Fire Fighters Charity

Every year, thousands of fire fighters are injured whilst protecting the public and every 30 seconds in the UK, fire fighters are called to an incident, putting their lives on the line and often sustaining physical injuries and emotional trauma whilst carrying out their duties.

The Fire Fighters Charity is the UK’s leading provider of services that enhance quality of life for serving and retired fire service personnel and their families. We aim to make a positive difference by supporting people in the fire and rescue community when they are in need.

We provide fire fighters with the help they need to recover from injury, surgery or illness, so they can return back to serving and protecting their local communities as quickly as possible.

But sometimes the scars of fire fighting aren’t just physical and the deepest scars are often those you cannot see. The funds raised by our Lifeline appeal will enable us to provide even higher quality services to more people in the fire and rescue community and to provide a greater spread of services including, for the first time, emotional wellbeing support and mental health services.

The role of a fire fighter is one of bravery, loyalty and devotion to public service. We hope you never need the help of the brave men and women in the UK’s fire and rescue service. But you can help us to be there when they need our help.

Steve

In 1995, fire fighter Steve Jeffery was involved in a traffic collision whist responding to an incident. He was trapped in his vehicle, and suffered multiple broken bones. After almost a year off, Steve returned to work. Sadly this was not the end of his ordeal. 16 years later, whist watching a news report about a fire crew, his accident came back to haunt him. Steve said, “I remember very vividly waking up with images of the crash I had been involved in. That image continued to reoccur, always the same image, me trapped in a fire engine.” Steve then began to have mood swings and became very short tempered, which affected his family and work colleagues. Unknown to Steve, he was suffering from Delayed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Steve went to see one of the Charity’s psychotherapists who identified his condition and helped him to deal with with his emotions. He said, “it’s a long road to recovery but I think I’m in a position with the help of the charity, my own service, family, colleagues, where I can cope.“

Matt filming at the fire station

Filming Matt and the fire crew