THE countdown is over: today, Friday, December 21, we find out if our firefighters, The Fire Tones, have made it to Christmas number one with their version of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas? (Feed the World)’.

The group of 43 firefighters from across the UK have had quite the journey in reaching this point. They recorded their song and music video in Birmingham, made numerous high-profile media appearances and have even received multiple celebrity endorsements.

It was never the intention of Welshpool firefighter Chris Birdsell-Jones to reach number one in the biggest chart race of the year when he first came up with the idea over a pint in the pub. But when people started to love it, he decided to aim for the Christmas top-spot.

The Official Charts itself even listed The Fire Tones as a contender, describing the song as “a promising charity single with its eye on the top spot”.

The Fire Tones have appeared on the likes of Heart Radio, ITV’s This Morning and Sky News. On Wednesday, December 19, they even appeared on The One Show alongside Chris Evans and Bear Grylls. They have also met celebrities including Strictly star Joe Sugg, comedian Keith Lemon and I’m a Celebrity’s Nick Knowles.

But despite all these high-profile appearances, The Fire Tones have stayed loyal to Mid Wales: launching their single in Welshpool and turning on the town’s Christmas lights. And that loyalty goes both ways: the local community has thrown its support behind the group. Shops in Welshpool have put up the County Times’ front page (page 62) campaign in their windows and two superfan sisters from Newtown made 43 individual snowflakes for each and every one of The Fire Tones.

The group of singing firefighters have already made it to number one in the Amazon sales charts and number nine in the Vodaphone Big Top 40. But today is the day they find out if they have made the top spot on the chart that counts: The Official Singles Chart.

Whatever happens, The Fire Tones will have raised an impressive amount of money for two great charities, Band Aid and The Firefighters Charity, and raised the profile of firefighters and the hard work they do nationwide.