A REDDITCH vicar has been honoured for a decade of work helping firefighters to come to terms with the shock of witnessing distressing scenes as they do their job.

The Rev Dick Johnson, vicar in the town's Holy Trinity team, has been presented with a Chairman's Certificate of Commendation for the services he provides to Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service's critical incident support team.

Mr Johnson, who received his certificate at the fire service annual award ceremony in Worcester, is chaplain to the service as part of his duties for the Faith at Work team in Worcestershire.

He coordinates the critical incident support team, helping to lead a group of 14 volunteers who respond to alerts from "Fire Control" whenever a particularly difficult incident is attended by crews.

His team offers support through phone calls to crew members after incidents, as well as more in-depth group counselling sessions if needed.

Firefighters sometimes need help after facing incidents involving the death of a member of the public, injury to children, suicide, rescues from road accidents and fires in buildings.

Mr Johnson, aged 56, whose role with the Holy Trinity team is as a workplace chaplain, said: "People working in the fire service develop their own coping mechanisms - and we give people an opportunity to speak about it and get things into perspective.

"We help them to see that the incident they witnessed is not something that happens every day.

"It may be that they have been to a car accident, with children injured in the back while their mother is in the front - and they may have children of the same age.

"Sometimes - particularly with the retained crews who are called to incidents in the area where they live - they know the person involved in the incident, which brings another set of pressures to the situation."

Mr Johnson added: “Sometimes, after a particularly traumatic incident, I will attend the fire station to talk to the crews as they return.

"I very much see this as part of my role as chaplain and I’m incredibly honoured that the work has been recognised with this commendation.”