Find out how The Fire Fighters Charity has supported beneficiaries across the UK and how you can share your story with the fire community. Click categories or regions below to filter the list of stories.
After a change of circumstances forced him to move into a shed, Scottish firefighter Alistair McNab contacted our Welfare Services Team. We caught up with him to find out how his life has turned around since then. From the depths of depression, to the safety of his new flat, this is a story of bravery in the face of adversity. When Hayward's Heath firefighter Mark Butler passed away in May, he left behind him a legacy that will never be forgotten in Sussex. His daughter, Megan, shares how the Charity helped her process her grief in the months that followed, and why she'll always see West Sussex Fire and Rescue as her extended family. When work-related stress saw Ben Fildes' childhood dream of being a firefighter come tumbling down around him, he was at breaking point. Afraid he would be told to 'man up' for talking about his feelings, two weeks spent at Jubilee House taught him not to be afraid to ask for help. Ten years later, he reflects on how far he has come. As the wife of a former Devon and Somerset firefighter, Dawn Colton says she will be forever grateful that her husband had somewhere to turn for help while on the verge of a breakdown. Having left his role as an Oxfordshire firefighter nearly 30 years ago, Mark Fussell didn't think he deserved help from The Fire Fighters Charity after a catastrophic car crash in October 2017. But he was quickly proven wrong.
Alistair: “I wanted to show I needed help because others might as well”
Megan: “I had to relearn who I was, not just the girl whose dad had died”
Ben: “It’s not a weakness to ask for help”
Lee & Dawn: “It gave our family some laughter we’d been struggling to find at the time”
Mark: “It was a totally ordinary day until it wasn’t.”
