Would you walk over burning coals in the line of duty? Intrepid reporter Gavin Engelbrecht did.
And it wasn’t just a couple of paces either. Gavin, who works for The Northern Echo, walked barefoot over 20ft of burning coals to help raise thousands of pounds for a hospice.
Here is his personal account…

Those coals really are hot… very hot – and believe me, there is no trickery or magic involved.

Standing a yard away from the burning embers, we could feel the glow of 1,200F of heat on our faces.

A temperature hot enough to melt aluminium, let alone human skin.

But nothing could stop us volunteers as we prepared to take on the challenge of the St Cuthbert’s Blaze Firewalk, in Durham Market Place.

Firewalking was something that had intrigued me from a young age. I recall walking barefoot as a child in Africa when on hot days the tar in the roads would melt and squish up through my toes.

Now that hurt – so how on earth could people firewalk?

The opportunity to find out came with the chance to raise cash for St Cuthbert’s Hospice and, in the name of investigative journalism, I volunteered to take part.

Our tutor for the night was Cliff Mann of the Nottingham company, Blaze. He assured us that in his 15 years of experience no one had suffered more than a blister.

He said the reason why walking across hot coals does not burn your feet is a combination of simple physics and a state of mind.

The physics revolves around conductivity – when a carbon-based substance is burned it radiates most of its heat through the air rather than transferring it through the soles of a firewalker’s feet – especially if the walk is quick.

Another factor is the so-called Leidenfrost effect, where the moisture on your feet absorbs some of the heat.

Last, but not least, is the person’s state of mind.

Experts claim the hardest part is not walking on fire, it’s walking through the wall of fear that inhibits us.

Cliff said: “A lot of people see it as a rite of passage – something spiritual.”

Within two hours, the power of thought was graphically illustrated to us.

We were asked to recall a fond memory and project it on to an imaginary 40ft screen, before visualising ourselves as giants striding over hot coals.

From a group of 32 self-conscious individuals, we became a gang clapping our hands, hollering and raring to go.

And so, in the right state of mind, I took the few brisk steps over the coals.

The obvious question is, did it burn? To be honest, the only thing I felt was a brief warm sensation when I thought about what I was doing.

The only injury I sustained was to my little toe, which I stubbed on the cobble stones as I stepped off the coals!

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