Volunteers have been providing Britain’s firefighters with much-needed supplies as the emergency workers tackle some of England’s worst wildfires.
The Rapid Relief Team, with more than 8,000 volunteers nationwide, has been deploying dozens of its members to provide food, hydration and welfare assistance.
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They have helped firefighters at blazes at Holme Fen near Peterborough, in the New Forest and at Dunwich Heath on the Suffolk coast.
The Cambridgeshire-based charity has been working alongside emergency services as crews endure what Ben Marsh, the organisation’s Cambridge volunteer lead, described as “horrific conditions.”
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Mr Marsh said: “We are just trying to keep them fed, hydrated, and just give them a moment of peace or downtime when they’re feeling their worst.”
The Holme Fen fire has been called one of the county’s most demanding incidents in close to three decades.
Since the peatland fire erupted on August 8, over 60 volunteers drawn from Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Lincolnshire have been on the ground at the 660-acre nature reserve.
Mr Marsh said his team reached the scene within hours of the blaze starting and prepared roughly 200 hot burger meals for crews that first evening.
Throughout the week, rotating groups of volunteers have kept up the effort, ferrying chocolate bars and electrolyte drinks to the front line to sustain firefighters through gruelling 12-hour shifts in 36-degree heat.
Mr Marsh said: “They are absolutely drained. In some cases, they hadn’t eaten for 24 hours. They’ve been on their feet trying to do a very active physical job in 36-degree temperatures.”
Beyond Holme Fen, the charity has also been providing support to crews fighting the New Forest wildfire in Hampshire, and previously assisted during the major heathland blaze at Dunwich Heath, which burned for nearly a fortnight.
Mr Marsh described an exceptionally demanding period for the organisation, noting that on at least three days over the past week, seven separate reactive deployments were underway simultaneously across the country.
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He said: “It’s definitely a very busy period for us.
“We really enjoy putting that compassion in action and we’re there to support anyone in any way we can… it’s what we love to do.”
Brigades from Norfolk, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and as far away as Merseyside have converged on Holme Fen to join the firefighting effort.
Volunteers established a cooking station just beyond the fire cordon, preparing meals and running them directly out to crews on the front line.
Mr Marsh said firefighters had been deeply grateful, with many telling volunteers “you’re a lifesaver.”
He told the BBC: “It’s just that moment of respite and just knowing that they can step back for a minute, they’ll be cared for even just a chance for a wipe or two to wash their faces and try and clean up a little bit.”
Local residents have also rallied behind the effort, delivering gifts and thank-you cards from nearby villages that Marsh said visibly lifted morale among exhausted crews.
Cambridgeshire’s chief fire officer Matthew Warren said: “We are extremely grateful to everyone that is pitching in… our partners have been pivotal in our response.”
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