More than ever, Ukraine is looking forward to the latest shipment from the Firefighters United Foundation. Earlier this Friday she selflessly delivered a complete fire truck for colleagues in this country. Not for the first time, but because of the raging war in Ukraine, which has been raging for three months now, it is rarely so badly needed, says Jan-Toine van Hooft from Tilburg.
Van Hooft (58) and Eric Zigenhorn (56) who live in Groesbeek in Gelderland, founded the foundation in 2018. To give fire equipment that is no longer used in our country a new purpose elsewhere. The material comes from all over the Netherlands and has been made available with the cooperation of, among others, the Fire Brigade Without Borders Foundation in Tilburg and the safety regions.
Earlier, the firefighters, with another organization, focused on Kyrgyzstan, a country in Central Asia, northeast of Afghanistan. For a few years now, the two have been looking for something closer to home. They have already brought diving sets, fire helmets, boots and a diving bus to the Ukrainian capital Kiev.
“It’s just a passion.”
“We don’t think of our journey and our projects as work. It’s just a passion. What’s more, we have pleasant contacts as a result,” says Van Hooft after the handover of a complete tank truck sprayer at a fire station in Poland. From here, the vehicle is handed over to the authorities in Cherkasy, a city in central Ukraine. “You don’t have to guess how they will react,” he already knows.
He and his buddy could never have imagined that one day they would help a country go to war. It didn’t stop them for a moment from traveling this time too. In fact: the project has become larger and more important, because the willingness to take action from the Netherlands is high. They received cooperation from the Central and West Brabant Security Region, among others.
“Cars have walked on mines, this is desperately needed.”
Their latest initiative comes just in time. “A number of vehicles have been destroyed during the war, for example in bombings or rocket attacks. Or because cars had run into mines, we heard from our colleagues in Ukraine,” says Van Hooft.
In Brabant Today he shows what is in the car that has been donated. Van Hooft sums up: “Rescue equipment, high and low pressure systems, fire hoses, devices to fight forest fires, fans and pumps. And it also has a foam extinguisher trailer attached. And there is room for five people in the cabin.”
The mission also contains, unfortunately appropriately, means to liberate people. Seven trailers had already been shipped to the Ukrainian city of Lviv earlier. If it’s up to the firefighters, it won’t be their last operation. “The vehicles and the contents are so operational that they can actually be deployed immediately. At the most, the users need some time to get used to the instruments,” says Van Hooft, who will return home on Sunday with a satisfied feeling.
“I’m sure they will be very happy.”
“I’m sure our colleagues will be really happy with it. Of course, the fire brigade also has vehicles and equipment at its disposal there, but these date back to Soviet times. And they don’t exactly meet our standard. A real asset to the corps in Ukraine.”
ALSO READ: Firemen Eric and Jan-Toine bring old diving bus to Ukraine: ‘Their car is a covered wagon’