Leading international fire industry publisher MDM Publishing Ltd (MDM) are delighted to announce an agreement that will see them support the Antarctic Fire Angels expedition to the Antarctic in 2023.
UK Fire, International Fire Fighter and Asia Pacific Fire magazines will be the official media partners to Antarctic Fire Angels and provide them with global media exposure throughout the fire industry, both in print, digitally and via social media.
MDM Group Editor Duncan J White said, “As soon as we heard about the Antarctic Fire Angels, we offered our support to them with their preparations for this epic adventure. We are delighted to be supporting them with media services, industry advice and guidance, and anything else they think we can help them with.”
Georgina Gilbert said, “We are absolutely delighted that MDM Publishing (Duncan) got in touch with us. Their support will not only give us a global platform to showcase our expedition but also a strong voice for our key messages on tackling gender stereotypes and awareness of importance mental health issues. We are looking forward to working closely with MDM over the next few years. Together we will achieve great things across the world.”
The Antarctic Fire Angels (AFA) idea was born in 2019 at the Women in the Fire Service (WFS) Training and Development event.
Keynote speaker, Sophie Montange from the Army’s Ice Maiden team said that, “We wanted to show women what women are capable of.” This statement, along with Sophie’s infectious passion inspired Nakita and was the hook that reeled her in.
Later, at the event Nakita Ross saw Georgina Gilbert, who she’d made friends with in 2018, after attending her Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) workshop. They instantly hit it off and both had the same idea to go to the Antarctic and take a team of female firefighters!
On meeting later, they had formed a plan for the Antarctic expedition and the reason why: “To inspire women and tackle the stigma of mental health.” Throughout this journey the AFA team will share their reasons for taking on Antarctica and what they hope to achieve.
By September 2019, Nakita and Georgina had put together their team and had their “chosen frozen!” In October 2019, the AFA’s had their first team meeting and they were all determined to make this happen. By November 2019, the team went live, and the journey has snowballed from there!
The AFA team are on their way to make history, all thanks to one team of women inspiring other women.
“Ordinary women doing extraordinary things.”
The Angels are training to ski coast-to-coast across Antarctica in November 2023. Together they will cover 1,900 Km, pulling 85 Kg pulks (supply sleds) in temperatures as low as -50 and wind speeds of over 60 mph for approximately 70 days. That is around 27 Km every day.
Conquering this route using mind and muscle power alone will be a World Record, as the team would be the first all-female emergency services team to achieve this.
MDM, along with their UK Fire, International Fire Fighter and Asia Pacific Fire titles will be with them on their journey to eradicate gender stereotypes and to increase awareness of the impact of poor mental health.
As they prepare to face one of the harshest environments in the world to give you full insight of who they are as ordinary women – who can do extraordinary things. As firefighters, they are often portrayed as strong individuals who are resistant to tragedy, and able to cope and to continue at any cost. This isn’t true.
Mental health affects firefighters. Gender stereotyping affects prospective firefighters. Both can affect every one of us.
They can’t face this alone. Together we can make this a reality.
The team at MDM Publishing are delighted to be working with the Antarctic Fire Angels to make this expedition happen.
For information on sponsorship opportunities with the Antarctic Fire Angels, go to antarcticfireangels.co.uk/donate/#donate-sponsor
For more information on the AFA, go to www.antarcticfireangels.co.uk
To contact MDM, please email duncan.white@ukfiremag.co.uk
