Thank you Kent Fire & Rescue Service

They are amazing each and everyone one of them. Each day, like other emergency service workers, they are there for all of us, our guardian angels. Thank you to every one of the amazing team that is Kent Fire & Rescue Service (KFRS). The same goes for all the other emergency service organisations.

Between 1st Jan  2018 and the 31st October 2019, they have rescued sixty people from fires and attended nearly four thousand fires, across the whole of Kent, including Medway. But it doesn’t just stop there. They attended over a thousand Road Traffic Collisions across the 5,400 miles of roads in Kent, and in excess of nineteen thousand incidents.

They walk into smoke filled buildings risking their own lives to save ours. All of them are truly amazing and altruistic people. But it is not just the front end that deserves praise. All the volunteer firemen, back room staff, they do a fantastic job as well, so from all of us at the Shepwayvox Team, in this fast approaching festive season, thank you once again for being there. Your professionalism, your dedication, and your willingness to risk life and limb for people you don’t even know is deeply appreciated. Thank you.

But it doesn’t stop there. Kent Fire & Rescue have an animal rescue service and between April 1st 2015 and 31st Oct 2019 they have rescued over 600 animals. The most rescued animal are birds, followed by horses, then cats and dogs.

In early June of this year the M20 had a rolling road block put in place by a Highways England Traffic Officer. This was due to the fact that seven ducklings had fallen into a drain on the central reservation. One of the seven ducklings unfortunately died. The crew rescued the 6 ducklings, placed them into into a fire bucket and retrieved the fatal one. Mother duck and two further ducklings were nesting further down the central reservation, all of them were lead to safety and reunited.

On a balmy day in July of this year, KFRS Animal Rescue Service were called to help a trapped hedgehog. It was trapped in a drain in a garden. They saved it and let it go.

In a second hedgehog incident in August this year, in near 30 degree heat, KFRS Animal Rescue Service were called to attend an incident in the Sevenoaks District regarding another hedgehog. This one got trapped between a brick fence and the pavement. The hedgehog had to be released using small tools to displace part of the pavement which was a private driveway. The animal was checked over and then released back into its habitat, unscathed.

Then there was the rescue of a squirrel in August 2019 in Rochester. The KFRS Animal Rescue Service arrived at the scene to discover a trapped squirrel. It was found clinging to the front of a house and it’s leg trapped. A climbing ladder was used and the squirrel was released and speedily ran back down the house and away into its surrounding habitat.

In late August KFRS Animal Rescue Service were called to rescue a family rabbit. The family pet had been running around the house and jumped into the grate behind the fire and became trapped. A fire fighter reached down and pulled the rabbit from the hole behind the fire.

There are 631 stories just like the one’s above.

Life is priceless, you are priceless, as are our guardian angels at Kent Fire & Rescue Service.

Whoever you are, wherever you are, in this fast approaching festive season, stay safe, drive carefully, drink responsibly.

The Shepwayvox Team

Journalism for the People NOT the Powerful