West Midlands Fire Service carry fire engine up Snowdon mountain for charity

Workers at West Midlands Fire Service have carried a fire engine up the highest mountain in Wales to raise money for the Firefighters charity.

Aghia Pal Singh, who is a Communications and Infra Structure Engineer, came up with the idea to encourage people to get out into the fresh air, build closer links with the community and to raise money for the charity.

The fleet manager, Steve McCormick, along with the fire service's workshop team built a scale model of a fire engine that is lightweight, with shoulder straps, so that two people could carry the fire engine at a time.

40 members of the service took it in turns to carry the fire engine for part of the way up or down Snowdon Mountain.

Aghia says it was a phenomenal effort that put many individuals to the test, especially those who had never climbed a mountain before.

They weren't the only fire team that had the idea of climbing the Welsh peak for charity, as they bumped into co-workers at Staffordshire Fire Service on the way down who were dressed in their full firefighting gear.

The Firefighters Charity support the mental, physical and social needs of all serving and retired members of the UK's fire family.

Aghia isn't a stranger to physical challenges after previously taking a group up Kilimanjaro, where he helped raise £85,000 for another charity.

Inbetween his work the Engineer enjoys volunteering for humanitarian disasters across the world and even recently came back from Indonesia after helping victims of the earthquake in Indonedia just days before this Snowdon challenge.