Portraits of bravery: The Firefighter

As Armed Forces Day approaches, RAF firefighter Sgt Steve Pickston tells of a brave mission to ensure the survival of colleagues amid a fierce blaze.

By Paul Kendall, Daily Telegraph

As you would expect for someone who has served on five overseas tours – including one in Iraq and a previous tour of Afghanistan – Sgt Steve Pickston, 28, has been in some perilous situations.

None, however, has been as dangerous as the fire he faced last month in Helmand.

Sergeant Steve Pickston of the RAF Fire Service, 903 Expeditionary Force

As you would expect for someone who has served on five overseas tours – including one in Iraq and a previous tour of Afghanistan – Sgt Steve Pickston, 28, has been in some perilous situations.

None, however, has been as dangerous as the fire he faced last month in Helmand.

As a sergeant in the RAF Fire and Rescue Service, Sgt Pickston was off-duty on the evening of May 16 when he received orders to attend a blaze at Leatherneck, a US Marine base next to Camp Bastion. A storage area had caught fire and the smoke and flames stretched so high into the air they could be seen from more than a mile away.

Sgt Pickston's main priority was to stop the fire spreading to any of the camp's living quarters, but after less than an hour, he and his crew received a radio message warning them that a sandstorm and 60mph winds were heading their way. Thirty seconds later, the storm blew in, fanning the flames and spreading the fire.

"The situation deteriorated very quickly," says Sgt Pickston. "It blew everything towards us – the flames, the smoke – and it was every man for himself. You literally had to get out as fast as you could."

Two men were overwhelmed by the fire and Sgt Pickston and a colleague dragged them to safety. Outside of the danger zone, the sergeant was unable to account for a further two men. He asked for volunteers and then, together, they headed back into the blaze – which now covered an area the size of two football pitches – to make sure the men were safe.

It was an incredibly brave thing to do. As well as the intense heat, metal cylinders from the store room were exploding and flying through the air. Sgt Pickston saw one fly less than 15ft in front of his face.

"I've been in some hairy situations but that was probably the worst," he says now. "The heat was incredible."

The sergeant eventually located the missing men. They were alive and well and, once the storm had died down, Sgt Pickston reassembled his crew and went to work with hoses and water cannons.

After five hours, they brought the fire under control, with no loss of life.

"We don't have fires all the time but we do a lot of training," he says. "Fires like this one prove we're an efficient and capable force."


Photo: Corporal Gary Kendall RLC