US top brass hail firefighter Steve

RAF Sgt Steve Pickston . . . high praise for fighting a massive fire

AN RAF firefighter from Chadderton has earned high praise from the US Marine Corps for helping to tackle a massive blaze at a US camp in Afghanistan.

Sgt Steve Pickston (28) is based at Camp Bastion and raced to help when the fire at neighbouring Camp Leatherneck threatened to get out of control.

The blaze started at dusk in a storage compound holding gas cylinders.

Strong winds fanned the flames which could be seen from Camp Bastion a mile away.

Sgt Pickston said: ‘We tried to hit the fire from three sides initially, trying to create a fire break.

“However, when the sandstorm hit, we had to withdraw because the conditions were unbelievable and we had to evacuate everyone that was in our area.”

More than 50 RAF and US firefighters battled the blaze for 16 hours, fighting their way through the storage area container by container to ensure that the last of the flames were extinguished.

An area the size of two football pitches was destroyed.

No-one was injured and the base continued to operate normally throughout the drama.

Presenting commendations to the RAF crews involved Major Gen Richard Mills, Commander of the US 1st Marine Division, said: “This is just a tiny, tiny token of appreciation but it is symbolic perhaps of the bravery, courage, skill and professionalism that each and every one of you exhibited that evening.

“I think that the highest thing that we can say is that, in a situation where we could have had catastrophic loss of life, because of the way you fought that fire we lost nobody.

“I can buy new things but I cannot buy new people.”

Sgt Pickston, a former pupil of Radclyffe School, is looking forward to getting home to see mum Karen, dad Mark, brother David (23) and nine-year-old son Josh.