September 28, 2022 2.30 pm This story is over 18 months old

Vital training in Immingham to help firefighters in war-torn Ukraine

Including equipment familiarisation

Vital training and skills are being carried out in Immingham in North East Lincolnshire this week to help firefighters in war-torn Ukraine.

For the past six years, Humberside Fire & Rescue service has been supporting the United Kingdom Rescue Organisation with its work in Ukraine. End of service fire engines, rescue equipment and firefighting kit have been donated.

The training, which continues this week, has previously been carried out in Ukraine, but because of Russia’s invasion earlier this year it’s being done in Immingham.

Ian Marritt, Station Manager at Humberside Fire & Rescue, told BBC Look North: “At this moment in time they’re doing a little bit of equipment familiarisation, so some of the equipment that we’ve got here perhaps isn’t what they’ve got on their own appliances back in the Ukraine so we’re just making them familiar with the kit.”

This special relationship is also why a Humberside fire engine once based in Grimsby was seen on news around the world when Russia attacked a shopping centre in Kremenchuk in Ukraine in June this year.