OWNERS of holiday accommodation in North Yorkshire have offered more than 100 free holidays for the Grenfell Tower firefighters.

People have donated holidays in B&Bs, hotels, self-catering cottages and even a flat in a castle following an appeal by Susan Briggs.

Ms Briggs, who runs tourism marketing company, The Tourism Network in Masham, sent out an appeal to holiday accommodation owners four days after the devastating June 14 fire in the London tower block to see if they could help. Now, around 120 holidays have been offered in the Yorkshire Dales and coast.

Others have offered restaurant meals or walking tours.

The first Grenfell Tower firefighter is already staying in one holiday cottage in Richmond.

“About four days after the fire happened I had been watching the news and kept going outside and everything looked so green and beautiful and clean,” said Ms Briggs.

“I wanted to help but we are so far away. I started to read some blogs by firefighters and the awful things they experienced.

“I thought maybe because we were so far away it was a good thing to come here, as you can come here and feel totally different in the fresh air amongst all the greenery.”

She got in touch with The Fire Fighters Charity, who will match up the breaks with individual firefighters, who are being psychologically assessed.

“The charity said it will take a while because they have to look at the individual needs of the firefighters and a psychologist has to assess them because a lot of them are really, really traumatised.

“When they were in the building they were having to make decisions such as whether to save an old person or children; they were literally taking life or death decisions.

“The Fire Fighters Charity will assess their needs and try and match them up with the most appropriate holiday, such as dog-friendly accommodation.”

The charity will offer breaks to firefighters as they take their leave throughout the rest of the year and liaise with other organisations to offer any remaining holidays to police or ambulance crews affected.

Susan said one person who came forward with a donation had done so because her husband had been in the fire service before he died and she felt it would also be beneficial to their partners or family who were often under strain not knowing whether they would return from a job.

Scotland Yard estimates the final death toll from Grenfell Tower will be around 80 and that 255 residents survived the disaster.