| Fifty-six firefighters form London Fire Brigade took a 26.2 mile course of Marathon 2010 |
Fifty-six firefighters and non-uniformed staff of London Fire Brigade took the challenge to run the 26.2-mile course to raise cash for thirty-nine charities and good causes.
Over fifty members of London Fire Brigade's staff took part in this year's London Marathon, raising around £50,000 for various charities. Fifty-six firefighters and non-uniformed staff took the challenge to run the 26.2-mile course to raise cash for thirty-nine charities and good causes, including the Fire Fighters Charity, Cancer Research UK, British Heart Foundation, Help for Heroes and many more. The Brigade's runners joined 35,500 other participants from across the country and worldwide, starting in Greenwich Park/Blackheath and finishing in The Mall.
London Fire Commissioner Ron Dobson said: "Alongside raising money, the Brigade uses the Marathon as an opportunity to promote key fire safety messages to the many thousands of people lining the route and the millions more watching the Marathon at home. The involvement of hundreds of our off-duty staff who volunteer to act as marshals and on-duty fire crews active around the route, gives us a chance to engage with the many communities who live along the route, and to support the race organisers' in delivering one of London's biggest events."
Aside from the Brigade's runners, more than 200 volunteers helped out at the Brigade's water station at Poplar and on-duty firefighters from fire stations along the route gave out fire prevention information and advice to people lining the course.
Five of the Brigade firefighters took the challenge to another level and ran the marathon in the Brigade's new fire kit, which was launched on 1st April 2010. The new blue fire kit was selected from a number of potential kits and followed a series of rigorous testing and evaluation, including trials by Brigade operational staff. Every element of the new kit has been designed to integrate with each other and is fully compatible with other equipment used by the Brigade.