Three Desborough firefighters climb Mount Snowdon in their full kit - and even help injured climber in the process

Three Desborough firefighters have hit the heights for charity – by climbing Mount Snowdon in their full firefighting kit.

On-call firefighters Mel Barker and Ian Jarvis and wholetime firefighter Stuart Tomlin have raised over £1,500 after their fantastic feat of strength and endurance.

The trio scaled the UK’s second highest peak to support the Fire Fighters Charity.

The vital charity helps to rehabilitate injured firefighters and provide physical and mental support and counselling for members of the fire family.

Mel said: “We support the charity all year around with things like car washes.

“But it’s been tough for the charity with the pandemic and they don’t get Government funding.

“So we wanted to do something a bit bigger – and we thought we could climb Snowdon in our firefighter gear.”

She added: “Thankfully it wasn’t too taxing as we have to be pretty fit for our job.

“But we’ve had a few people ask whether we carried the oxygen cylinders, maybe that’s something to think of as a challenge for next year!”

Mel, Ian and Stuart also dived in to help an injured climber as they made their way back down the 3,560ft peak in North Wales.

“We had met a girl who was climbing on her own at the top,” said Mel.

“She managed to take some pictures for us and as we were climbing down we saw her fall down in front of us.

“It looked quite nasty.

“So we helped to give her first aid and we went down the rest of the mountain with her to make sure she was fine.”

You can still get behind the brave firefighters and donate to their charity effort by visiting www.justgiving.com/fundraising/desboroughstation