WILTSHIRE fire officer Brian Joyce, who has just returned from Iraq, was horrified to see local firemen fight blazes without any proper protective clothing or equipment.

Mr Joyce, a 53-year-old father of two from Bradford on Avon, originally went to Iraq last year at the invitation of Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions to help the country's firefighters set up their own union, something that was banned under Saddam Hussein.

But when Mr Joyce went to meet his opposite numbers at their fire station in Basra, he experienced a shock.

He said: "All they had on were blue overalls and sandals. At first I thought this was just their off-duty fatigues but they then told me this was all they had to wear to do their job.

"They showed me the most horrendous injuries and burns they had received while attending fires. I promised there and then to help them and when I got back I immediately set about collecting essential equipment for them."

Mr Joyce has just returned from Basra where he was able to take dozens of helmets, tunics, leggings and boots to the under-privileged men.

He was also supposed to visit Baghdad but the current unrest made it too unsafe for him. He said: Things are still bad in Basra, although it is much better run by the British forces. While I was there an American businessman was kidnapped by insurgents in the hotel I was staying at."