A CONVOY of three fire engines that had been stuck at the Poland-Ukraine border for eight days has finally crossed into Ukraine.
The engines, sent by the Scottish Emergency Rescue Association (SERA), travelled from Edinburgh on the 5th December but were stopped by border officials due to a mix up in paperwork.
After being at a stand-still on the border for over a week, the engines were finally given the all clear yesterday morning.
The team arrived at Lviv, Ukraine yesterday to deliver the engines, as well as a lorry full of crucial supplies.
SERA, an Edinburgh-based charity who specialise in equipping and training firefighters across Europe, were fined over £10,000 for a “clerical discrepancy”, despite filling out paperwork correctly ahead of the journey.
The forms were submitted late by The Department of Humanitarian Aid in Poland, who admitted the administrative error but did not inform Border Control about the issue.
Gary Bennett, former firefighter at Fife Fire and Rescue Service and founder of SERA, urged the charity’s supporters to contact the Polish ministers of Finance and Infrastructure who could then give authorisation for the vehicles to be released.
In a video posted to social media, Gary states: “We’ve had news this morning and it has been confirmed by multiple sources, that the ministers got together and agreed that we should pass without fine.
“So, these vehicles are going to go where they are needed and lives are going to be saved as a result of the collective voice.”
Gary said today: “On our 9th day from entering the Polish border, we officially left Poland in the small hours of Sunday the 15th December into Ukraine.
“Once past UA customs which took a very short time, we drove to our destination of Lviv and arrived at 0830 hrs to the waiting firefighters to whom the fire engines would ultimately belong to.
“We didn’t even switch the engine off on one of the vehicles before it began its journey to its new operational home 900km away from Lviv.”
The charity also received a message from “emotional” Ukrainian firefighters, who expressed their thanks and gratitude for the help from Gary and the team, one of them said: “I’m deeply impressed not only by the support you provided but by the realization that it is possible to overcome the system like this.
“Eight days to change a regulation and release the vehicles – that is something unreal, I thought it was unreal.
“I was really worried for you, but I could not have imagined this could happen.
“I simply can’t believe what happened. Usually, it’s big cities that receive such help, not communities and fire safety brigades like ours.
“You need to know that for us, this is more than a fire engine and equipment support.
“Believe me, what I’m feeling inside right now is indescribable.
“I’ve been trying to write a thank-you message, but I keep typing and deleting – it’s happened several times already because I have so many thoughts.
“The thing is, above all, this shows us that we are supported, that we are not alone.
“This gives us hope, the desire to live, and the will to continue our work and our fight.
“At the forum, those guys from other communities asked me how I managed to get help from you.
“They couldn’t believe that no higher-ups negotiated this for us and that I didn’t pay anyone anything, all I did was send you that message asking for help.
Gary went on to say: “This message for us is why we do what we do.
“Not for accolade, reward or recognition; rather someone asked us for help and we had the means to provide that life changing help.
“I love the quote from Desmond Tutu ‘Do your little bit of good where you are, it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world’.
“Whether supporting folks in war torn Ukraine or spending time with a lonely person in your street, if we all do what we can, when we can – the world will be a better place – even if it’s only for a little while.”
