Firefighters rushing into blazes in foreign countries will be safer, thanks to their counterparts in London.

The London Fire Department is shipping hundreds of pieces of decommissioned equipment to emergency workers in developing nations.

A handful of firefighters at the Wellington Road station spent Tuesday packing dozens of wooden crates with breathing packs, air cylinders and communication equipment.

Toronto-based charity GlobalFire is delivering the goods to firefighters and paramedics, likely in the Ukraine and Panama, and training them in using the equipment.

London’s donation is the largest ever made through GlobalFire, said project co-ordinator Craig Lester.

“If anyone is keeping score, the City of London . . . is very much in first place when comes to being benevolent and assisting their counterparts in the developing world,” said Lester, who works as a firefighter in Toronto.

Coun. Virginia Ridley brought forward the motion to donate the decommissioned equipment at a meeting of the community and protective services committee last December. Council approved the plan unanimously in January.

“I think this is one way that we can help other people, all through volunteer effort,” Ridley said.

The city would have been left footing the bill to dispose of the equipment, which had reached the end of its life under North American regulations, she said. “So there’s no cost to the city.”

GlobalFire will test the equipment to make sure it’s in working order before shipping it.

Lester said the donation will be a big windfall for firefighters in ­developing countries, many of whom are poorly equipped, putting them at increased risk of injury, death and work-related cancers.

“It’s all light years ahead of the equipment that they’re using, which tends to be from the ’70s and ’80s,” he said.

“This is going to make a big difference to the men and women who receive it and the men and women they’re going to help.”

dcarruthers@postmedia.com

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