FIREFIGHTER Andy Elliott is on a mission to help injured colleagues after witnessing firsthand the devastation caused by a deadly wildfire in America.

Mr Elliott, who is in charge of Maiden Newton station and specialises in wildfires, has returned from a fact-finding trip to California where he spent time with crews battling the Valley Fire.

Burning an area twice the size of San Francisco, it raged across 120 square miles destroying thousands of buildings and forcing huge numbers of people to evacuate, and is one of the most devastating fires in the history of the state.

Four firefighters were severely burnt and four civilians were killed.

To help support the injured firefighters Mr Elliott Andy has launched a fundraising campaign and has created a JustGiving page.

Mr Elliott travelled to America for a 'knowledge exchange scheme' to see what the Dorset brigade could learn when it comes to tackling wildfires.

Such events in the UK are rare, but when they do occur they can be extremely serious and damage acres of countryside and affect wildlife and eco-systems – as the Upton Heath fire of 2011 demonstrated.

Mr Elliott's aim is to raise awareness of wildfire issues in the UK and to promote safe systems of work.

Mr Elliott, who was stationed at Lake County during September, told how he attended a vegetation fire with crews and he extinguished a blaze which saved a house.

The same fire caused the injuries of the firefighters who had been dropped by helicopter to fight the blaze in a different location. Mr Elliott helped to treat their burns before they were evacuated.

He then found himself trapped along with other crews and they had to work a route to safety by cutting lines of fire.

They pulled out to the community of Middleton, an area he described as looking like 'post-blitz London'.

After the trip he said: "The four injured firefighters remain seriously ill and the death toll of civilians is set to rise. The fire is now under control and people have been allowed back into the area. At least 1,200 of them will find that their homes have been destroyed.

"The world will learn lessons from this fire and there are many lessons that the UK can learn to help us prevent and manage incidents of this type.

"Seven firefighters lost their homes to the Valley Fire and four firefighters suffered severe burns in the course of duty."

The JustGiving page can be found at https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/Helitack-104