A FIREFIGHTER has built his very own “fire station” out of a shed in his back garden after he couldn’t bear to be away from the office.

Kevin Francis, 49, from Upper Clatford, Hampshire, the U.K., built the incredible life-like fire station after spending years collecting equipment, photographs and memorabilia to feature in the station.

The fire station comes complete with a pole, helmets, uniform, badges, and even a fully working bar which the family have been using throughout lockdown.

Francis, who has been a firefighter for 31 years, has always been interested in the fire service as his father, Mervyn, 80, who also worked as a firefighter at the same time as his son.

But Francis’ homemade fire station has also become a hit with his friends and family, and he lets his friend’s children, including little Alfie Hardy, 6, visit the award-winning “shed” to play.

Fire engine-mad Alfie suffers from a single ventricle heart defect and hypermobility which has left him spending a large amount of his childhood in hospitals.

Francis explained: “I had collected memorabilia like a whole set of different uniforms through the ages, old pictures, posters of my career and even old toy fire engines for years so I wanted to put them to good use.

“My parents and I built the whole thing from scratch whilst I was off sick from work; it took us six months and we had to get planning permission for it because it was so big.

“I have been in the fire service since I was 18 years old and I’ve always loved the history behind it.

“It’s been an amazing space to use throughout lockdown; I have two children and we have been able to use it as a get-together space when we’re allowed to.

“The bar actually came from an old fire station.

“I met Alfie’s mother whilst on a first-aid training course and she mentioned how sick he was and how much he loved fire engines so I thought it would be nice to let him come down and have a look around.

“He played with some of the equipment, slid down the pole and just had a great time.

“He’s really unwell so it felt amazing to be able to offer him this experience a month before he went in for another open heart surgery.”

Francis said he was originally inspired to build the fire station because one of his friends had built a pub shed in his back garden and it looked like a lot of fun so he wanted to give it a go.

“My wife told me I had to do something with all the memorabilia in the loft so I put it to good use.

“My dad loves it because he also worked in the fire service and there’s pictures of him in there when he worked in the fire service. It brings back a lot of memories.” (SD-Agencies)