Humberside was the latest stop on a remarkable journey during which a ten year old boy from Dorset is hoping to visit every fire station in the UK.
Andrew is ten years old, autistic, but attends mainstream school. Andrew has had a fascination with the fire service for quite a few years. On Christmas Eve 2014, Dad (Paul) took Andrew to visit Cosham, Southsea and Havant Fire Stations. Over Christmas Andrew began (with help) to put together a list of all fire stations in Hampshire, and soon the idea of One Lads Challenge was born.
Andrew added other fire authorities to his list, and it has now become a 300 page book covering all fire stations in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland and Crown Dependencies. A total of 2305, this number includes some Airports, RAF and private fire stations, but not all and others are being added on a regular basis.
Along with his mum Kirstine, Andrew spent two days in this region and managed to visit the majority of stations on both sides of the River Humber. From Cleethorpes to Bridlington, Scunthorpe to Snaith, Andrew saw ALPs, training centres, boats, TRVs and a mountain of trusty engines! There wasn't enough time to visit all 31 stations, but it is believed that Andrew is nearing his 700th station! He met Chief Fire Office Dene Sanders and even tried out his desk for size!
Whilst at SHQ he met the team from the University of Hull's HIVE Project (pictured below) who were demonstrating the latest in virtual reality incident control training. Andrew was a natural, quickly assessing the scene and committing resources to a house fire!
You can follow @AndrewDane and his #OneLadsChallenge on Twitter as he raises the awareness of the fire service and autism - all whilst raising money for the Fire Fighters Charity.