Shropshire volunteers head to Romania with much needed fire equipment

A team of Shropshire volunteers have set off on another 1,800 mile road trip to donate much needed fire equipment and help vulnerable children and the elderly in rural parts of Romania.

Operation Sabre embarked on the five day journey to Mures County, Transylvania, taking vital humanitarian and firefighting aid to countryside regions where fire stations are far apart and ill equipped.

A team of eight, including both serving and retired members of the fire, police and nursing professions, are driving two redundant fire engines and a 4x4 Ford Ranger containing five tonnes of aid.

The convoy will join forces with four Bavarian firefighters from Regensburg who will bring more aid and a fire service minibus. The volunteers, from Shropshire and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services with friends and family, will stay at fire stations in Germany and Hungary on route.

“Volunteers from the communities of Alunis and Sovata in Romania will receive the fire engines at a ceremony attended by Romanian Government officials and British Embassy representatives,” said trip organiser Steve Worrall, a retired Assistant Chief Fire Officer at Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service.

During the team’s stay they will work alongside Romanian firefighters to decorate a Child Protection Centre and deliver aid to an Old Persons Home which the charity has completely refurbished over five years.

More than 20 redundant fire engines from the UK have been delivered to poor communities in Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland by the Shropshire led expeditions over the last few years.

The convoy of vehicles were “blessed” in a traditional ceremony by the Dean of Shrewsbury Cathedral, in the Quarry, Shrewsbury.