Geert is passionate about his vocation. Employed as a full time fire fighter in a large chemical company, he also volunteers in his home town's fire department.

Assisting an emergency service means often being called away from the family dinner table or being awoken in the middle of the night.

Geert says "volunteering is not always easy to combine with family life. I do it for the satisfaction of helping my community at all times, and for the variety and unpredictability of the work. I think my wife and children understand. My children visit the barracks every year on the open door days, which I help organise. But most of all, they view their dad as a hero - what more can a person ask!"

In 2015, the European Commission estimated that there were upto 285,000 professional European fire fighters who use chlorine and caustic soda (chlor-alkali)-based protective equipment to keep them safe when they enter burning buildings.

From polycarbonate protective face shields to polyurethane protective suits and PVC waterproofing, chlor-allkali chemistry helps keep these heroes safe.

Discover more about how chlor-alkali protects our firefighters here.