THE FIREFIGHTER’S EMOTIONAL LETTER IN FULL

I have been a firefighter for 10 years now and never ever felt so much guilt in all my life. I was one of the first crews who got turned out to the tragic event in Manchester. We stood around and were not given any updates. We got most of the information from news updates even though we were at an rendezvous point with high ranking senior fire officers. Two hours went by, watching numerous paramedics from as far away as East Midlands turning up and being deployed while we just stood around doing nothing. Even a paramedic came to us pleading. She had just taken a young girl to hospital, sadly one of the tragic victims of this horrid attack. She was begging us, pleading with us to help, because they needed it. Help in getting the casualties away from danger, help with triage and help with carrying victims. I have felt nothing but guilt, feeling ashamed and feeling let down by senior officers who didn’t have the balls to commit us. We pleaded with our high ranking officers to let us go but that got declined on numerous occasions. Young children were dying and we weren’t there to help. I did not sign up to the best job in the world to turn my back! We were only 1/2 a mile away from helping, from potentially saving lives. This will stick with me forever. I would personally like to apologise to the victims and their families because I was part of a service you depend on and we weren’t there when you needed us. Please please forgive your firefighters who were begging to help.