Charity hat-trick for Chatteris firefighters as they win Bag It and Bank It competition again

Residents helped to play their part as firefighters won a competition which supports a good cause for the third time.

Chatteris firefighters have thanked the community for their continued support after scooping The Fire Fighters Charity’s Bag It and Bank It competition for the third year running.

The competition sees fire stations around the country compete to see which of them can raise the most through donations of textiles to their clothing banks throughout January.

More than four tonnes of textiles were donated at the yellow clothing bins at Chatteris Fire Station, generating more than £900 for the charity.

This was enough to scoop the first prize for the third successive year, completing an impressive hat-trick.

This year has seen the competition reach record-breaking success, with more than £100,000 raised for The Fire Fighters Charity in January across the UK, with nearly 1,000 stations taking part.

Firefighter Jack James, the Chatteris station’s charity representative, said: “Everyone at the station would like to thank the local community for their continued support and generosity year on year.

“The charity provides vital support to firefighters and their families across the UK.”

The crew was presented with its award by representatives from The Fire Fighters Charity at a recent drill night.

Kevin Biles, sales manager for the charity, said: “I’ve been overwhelmed by the support we’ve received this year for our Bag it and Bank it campaign, from both our fire services community and members of the public.

“This total is a result of all your hard work and the funds raised will make such a difference.”

Chatteris Fire Station is one of 20 stations in Cambridgeshire that is crewed solely by on-call firefighters.

On-call firefighters are not based at a fire station. They will often have other jobs or family commitments, and carry a pager and respond to emergency incidents as and when they happen.

When they are on-call they may be at home, working for themselves or for a nearby company, or out in their community (staying within a five-minute travel time of the fire station).