Lincolnshire firefighters and search dog home after rescue mission in Turkey

Left to right - Neil Woodmansey with Colin the dog, Colin Calam, Ashley Hildred and Mark Dungworth. Credit: Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service

The team of firefighters who flew to Turkey have described the scenes of total devastation after arriving safely home.

Four firefighters and Colin the rescue dog arrived back in Lincolnshire just over 24 hours ago after days of tireless work following the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

Colin Calam told ITV News: "You see the scale of destruction as you're driving along. You see it getting worse and worse.

"Just our sector was probably two miles long and every building that you come past is either demolished or is going to be demolished.

"A whole city has been lost."

Colin the dog had been injured during the operation. Credit: Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service

Mr Calam was joined by fellow firefighters Ashley Hildred, Mark Dungworth and Neil Woodmansey - who also brought his search dog Colin.

Neil said: "You go there, you do the best. The people of Turkey were wonderful to us - in all the devastation they were still trying to support us.

"There's a lot of hope out there."

On the second day of the operation, Colin got a cut to his leg which required 8 stitches. However, Neil said that within 24 hours he was back searching, adding - "the boy did well".

The team had previously been deployed to other disaster zones, including Haiti following the earthquake in 2010.

Mark said: "Having normal plans on a Saturday to then getting the call telling you to be ready to go out of the country in a few hours - it's quite a lot to process."

Ashley added that the experience still feels "surreal" and that it will take some time to process.

He told ITV News: "It's a huge amount of devastation and lots of loss of life, but for us as a team to be part of that international rescue effort - eight live rescues for the UK team which contributed to an international rescue of over 200 live rescues.

"That's a huge sense of pride."

A specialist search and rescue team from Leicestershire was also deployed to Turkey to help with the relief effort.

Five firefighters from Leicestershire joined those from Lincolnshire and other forces across the UK to search through the rubble in Turkey.

Rescue dog recovering after being injured in earthquake relief effort

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