A dozen firefighters from Garelochhead will take on a nine mile walk in full 20kg fire fighting kit to raise money for charity.


Kevin Dixon and his fellow crew members from Garelochhead station will walk nine miles, nine feet, nine inches – a nod to the emergency number 999 – from the station to Waitrose supermarket in Helensburgh to raise money for The Firefighters Charity.


The group will be joined by Kevin’s sister in law Kelly Andrews, who will be raising money for the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation. She has raised thousands of pounds for the charity after her husband Gary died of the disease whilst on holiday in 2013.


The group will set off at 9am on Saturday, November 28.


Kevin said he hoped they would complete the walk in around three hours, although the firefighters were still on call so they could get called out half way through the fundraiser.


He told the Advertiser: “We’re still on call, so most of us will be doing the walk but some will be doing support with the fire engine in case we get called away.


“Waitrose will be providing us with bottles of water and energy drinks. We went in and spoke to the manager and asked if it was alright to use a few of the spaces for the appliance on the Saturday which they said was fine.


“The kit is between 15 and 20 kilograms – it’s full breathing apparatus so an oxygen tank. That’s not including the kit we usually wear.


“We set a target of £1,000 to raise, which will be split equally between the two charities.”


When asked how the plan came about, Kevin said: “It was one of our stupid ideas, and I’ve had a few.
“We did the Italian job in 2006, where we raced a mini with three fireman in it.


“It’s just one of these things, everyone gets on board with it.”


The group will walk from Garelochhead, past Faslane and through Rhu and Shandon along Helensburgh’s seafront.


They will cut up at John Street, to walk along West Princes Street through the Winter Festival, before completing the walk along to Waitrose.


Kevin added: “The money from the charity we are supporting goes to injured firefighters and their families.


“One of the boys from Helensburgh station, John McCoshan, he was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and the charity helped him out. He’s actually doing the walk on Saturday with us to help raise some money back into the charity.”


If you want to donate, the group will have buckets on the day, or go to http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/L22.