Around 60 firefighters and staff members from London Fire Brigade will be running in this year’s London Marathon on April 26th. In addition to those taking part, over 200 Brigade volunteers will be helping to support the event by marshalling a section of the route along the Highway and staffing the 20-mile water station in Poplar High Street.
Brigade staff will raise tens of thousands of pounds for a wide range of charities and good causes this year, including the Fire Fighters Charity, Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research.
London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority Chairman, Councillor Brian Coleman AM FRSA, said: “The London Marathon is seen by millions of people across the world and is therefore a perfect opportunity for us to promote vital safety messages that can save lives.
Our firefighters and staff work hard throughout the year to protect Londoners, but by running on Sunday they will also be raising thousands of pounds for charities and good causes”.
London Fire Brigade runners will be wearing specially printed vests and staff around the course will be handing out whistles, balloons and other materials that promote fire safety messages to the public. This information includes a reminder that every home should have at least one working smoke alarm.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Some key facts and figures about London Fire Brigade’s marathon runners:
- For one of the runners, breathing apparatus technician, Roy Hibberd, from East Dulwich, this will be his 13th marathon. He has raised over £6,000 over the years for a hospice in Sydenham who looked after his late father.
- Another runner, Station Manager, Turan Turan from Southall Fire Station ran in the Paris Marathon at the beginning of April. He completed the Paris Marathon in 4 hours, 35 minutes, but hopes to complete the London Marathon in under 4 hours.
- Firefighter Andrew Small, from West Hampstead Fire Station, is hoping to raise £7,500 for Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital (he has so far raised almost £6,000). His 2 year old son was treated there for a brain tumour recently and he wants to pay tribute to all the doctors and nurses who treated him.
- Six of the Brigade’s runners are female, one of whom, Sonja Hoeben, from Stanmore Fire Station, will be running the Marathon in full fire gear, including her fire helmet and heavy fire resistant boots.
- Firefighting duo Abdel Guermellou and Jim Adams both work on the white watch at Clapham Fire Station, despite some friendly rivalry both have been training together and are hoping to raise lots of money for charity on the day.
- Firefighter Anthony Williams, from Hendon Fire Station, is hoping to raise £1000 for the Special Care Baby Unit at Watford General Hospital. His 7 week old daughter was born there and spent the first 2 days of her life there due to an abdominal cyst. He wants to repay the Unit for the care and support they provided for his daughter.
- Firefighter Paul Smyth, from Barnet Fire Station, will be raising funds for Addenbrooke’s Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) as his son Samuel was born there in October 2006 weighing just 2lbs. He spent the first 7 weeks of his life in the hospital and Paul says that without the help of the talented doctors and nurses it’s unlikely Samuel would be alive today. He hope to raise money to help fund more equipment for the NICU so other babies can benefit from the same care that Samuel received.
- Other charities and causes that staff and firefighters will raise money for include: the Fire Fighters Charity; Breath Through Breast Cancer; the British Heart Foundation; the Prostate Cancer Charity; the Autistic Society; POWER International; Reach charity; London Fire Brigade Welfare Fund; Association for Spina Bifida And Hydrocephalus (ASBAH); children’s wards at Queen’s Hospital, Romford; London Centre for children with Cerebral Palsy; Cancer Research; Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB); Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society;
