A HAMPSHIRE fire engine is to make an unlikely call-out - to Africa.

The vehicle and essential fire fighting equipment will be donated later this month to help fire chiefs in the Thika region of Kenya modernise their service.

A group of ten Hampshire firefighters will also travel to Thika to spend up to a month training Kenyan fire crews.

The project was organised by UK children's charity Out of Afrika which works in the east African country to create jobs and develop educational facilities.

The project was supported by the fundraising efforts of members of Hampshire's Urban Search and Rescue team.

Alec Martin, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service station manager of Eastleigh, said: "Over the past six months, team members have given up their own time to raise the necessary funds to allow them to follow the pump to Thika and train the new crews."

The fire engine to be donated first started service in June 1990 at Ringwood and also saw action earlier this year at a training centre in Eastleigh.

Alan House, deputy chief fire officer of Hampshire, said: "As a service, we are always pleased to be able to provide redundant vehicles and equipment in this way and to improve the safety of the communities in which they will serve, after serving for so many years in Hampshire.

"The tremendous fundraising efforts of the volunteer search and rescue team members enables them to travel to the location of the donated vehicle and give advice and training.

"This also provides the team with valuable experience working in other areas of the world, often without the range of skills and equipment that they would be used to in the UK, benefiting them as individuals but also preparing them for any emergency deployment overseas for disaster aid."

Thika is 25 miles north of the capital city Nairobi and has a population of one million people.

It consists of numerous small villages and shantytown settlements.

Out of Afrika will ship the donated vehicle to Thika and will provide covered storage for it.