Volunteers support 999 workers during spate of fires in North East
published on 10 Jul 2026
Volunteers with The Salvation Army’s Emergency Response Vehicle have had a busy few weeks supporting the emergency services as they respond to incidents across the North East.
The church and charity’s response vehicle provides drinks, hot butties and pastoral support to 999 workers while they attend emergencies.
At the end of last week, they supported around 50 Tyne and Wear firefighters along with other emergency service personnel at a large fire on an industrial estate in North Shields. The team were called out at 3am and stood down just before 9am.
Then on Wednesday, they received another early morning request to assist with a fire at a commercial property in the Wallsend Road area in North Shields. They arrived on the scene at 4am and were stood down just before 7.30am.
Julie Judson, Salvation Army Chaplain and Deputy Emergency Response Co-ordinator for The Salvation Army in the North East, said: “It’s been a busy couple of weeks for our emergency response team responding to two major fires that broke out overnight.
“We provided much needed cups of tea and bacon butties, which we know were appreciated by crews, but we’re also on hand to offer them a chance to offload if they need to.
“It’s always a privilege to support our emergency service heroes at incidents. We always receive a warm welcome from the fire crews, who tell us what a relief it is to them when they see our van has arrived at an incident.
“We couldn’t do this without our team of dedicated Salvation Army volunteers who answer the phone any time day or night and always show up willing to do what they can to help ease the pressures on 999 workers.”
When not attending emergencies the van can be seen supporting events in the community, including last month providing refreshments to friends from the Red Cross who had completed a week long charity walk from the West Coast to the East Coast.
The Emergency Vehicle is one of twenty-seven similar vehicles that the church and charity has up and down the country to support several other blue light organisations.
