HEROIC Warrington firefighters have returned from Turkey after a week spent helping rescue operations in the country devastated by a terrible earthquake.
The team is made up of Dan Reid and John Monaghan whose home station is Penketh, Ian Wilson from Lymm fire station, and Andy Clarke, whose home station is Chester but lives in Stockton Heath.
The team are part of the UK International Search and Rescue team (ISAR), for which they went through a rigorous selection process to be part of the UK’s international response team to aid in disasters such as the one that took place in Turkey.
Flying out last Wednesday (February 8) they joined a 77-person strong UK response team after an earthquake hit Turkey and Syria, devastating the region.
At a press conference held marking their return, Carl Nevitt, the Operational Assurance Manager for Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service said the work the team had completed was outstanding and that they were “a credit to themselves, their organization, and their families.”
Dan Reid, who lives in Padgate, was part of a crew that helped extract a woman trapped under rubble in a nearly day long operation of digging following her voice.
Speaking about this, he reiterated the great work the whole team had done and said: “We took shifts and worked for 19 hours, it was a successful mission and probably something in my life I’ll never do again.
“We were buzzing honestly, that’s what the whole team went out to do and we did it pretty well I thought.”
Ian Wilson spoke about his overriding memories of Turkey, saying that despite the devastation the people of Turkey still showed a great deal of kindness and generosity to the group.
“It was humbling that through all the devastation, most people had lost their home and all their possessions, but I will always remember how welcoming they were, offering us food and water. People were coming from all over Turkey to help out, to offer assistance as interpreters or just do what they can.”
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