FIREFIGHTERS in Malmesbury put their hoses to another use over the weekend and hosted a charity car wash, raising more than £800.

Despite working through the night at a fire in Chippenham on Saturday, the crew set up the car wash on Sunday at their station on Gloucester Road.

The event was held in aid of the Fire Fighters Charity and the British Lung Foundation in support of a friend of the crew, terminally ill Wiltshire paramedic Kevin Hitchens who has lung cancer and pulmonary fibrosis.

Kevin’s friend Chris Harvey, crew manager at Malmesbury fire station, started a social media campaign #acostaforkev, which has now grown to raise funds for charity.

Chris said: “The campaign started with Kev’s friends posting selfies of themselves enjoying a coffee, to show him we were thinking of him.

“It’s gone a lot further than we expected, so we’re now trying to raise money for charities supporting people with lung disease.

“The emergency services are a big family, and we all get to know one another, so the station was keen to do something in Kev’s name.

“The car wash was organised as one of the many events which have happened to support the social media campaign #acostaforkev that was set up to support Kev Hitchens who has spent many years helping others as a paramedic.”

As well as car washing in return for donations, the crew gave advise on home fire safety and provided information to people interested in joining Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service as an on-call firefighter.

Jamie Johnstone, a crew member at Malmesbury Fire Station, helped organise the car wash and said: “We had been out all the night before at the fire in Chippenham, so it was a long day.

“We then had a load of fire calls throughout the day and had the help of Tetbury fire station who were put on standby while we were out.

“It was a great day and we [got] a lot of help from outsiders.

“We also where supported by Grant Barnes & Sons who gave us the buckets and sponges.”