Tamworth firefighters get moving for Westmead Burns Unit

Together the South Tamworth and East Tamworth stations clocked up $4095 for the bravest little fighters as part of the 'Beat the Burn' challenge.

Local senior firefighter Andrew Noakes from the South Tamworth Fire Station put his bike to good use and racked up the kilometres for a cause close to his heart.

Inspired by the courage and strength of the little legends suffering from burns at the Westmead Children's Hospital Mr Noakes said participating in the challenge was a no-brainer.

"You know yourself when you get burnt how much it hurts and blisters," he said.

"Imagine a child.

"It's a pretty horrific thing to get over and it takes a lot of time to get over."

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The 'Beat the Burn' challenge ran earlier this month and called upon firefighters and their families to clock up the kilometres by running, swimming or cycling to raise valuable funds for the Burns Unit.

To get everyone involved the South Tamworth station ran a variety of events to get people pushing through the burn.

"For the first day of the challenge we organised a walk down at Bicentennial Park as a get together with all the different platoons," Mr Noakes said.

"Firefighters swam, others ran, and myself and a couple of others cycled."

Falling just behind the Liverpool Fire Station who raised $5310 for the cause, Mr Noakes said he was incredibly proud of the efforts of local firefighters.

"It's pretty good considering we are a country station," he said.

"So we're pretty proud of the money we did raise, it's a good effort."

The 'Beat the Burn' challenge is the brainchild of organisers after COVID restrictions threw a spanner in the works for the second year in a row.

Originally fundraising would occur through the '400in4 Charity Ride', a cycling challenge that got firefighters riding 400km in four days.

Despite the change in events, a total of $1 million has been raised for the burns unit since 2006.

Marked in the calendar as something to look forward to each year, Mr Noakes stressed how important it was to support such an important cause.

"When we're all recruits a big thing that we are shown is the Westmead Burns Unit," he said

"It's a big thing for the fire brigade to donate to.

"It helps them out in a big way and they appreciate everything we do for them."

Mr Noakes said the money would go towards helping improve research and getting the states' little legends back on their feet.

"It's just knowing that we're raising money to help the doctors down at Westmead research better ways of treatment and skin grafting so later on in life those kids can lead a better life."

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