Darcey Cook: Whittlesey firefighter’s daughter makes sequel to garden video that went viral during lockdown

The daughter of a Whittlesey firefighter – who topped more than one million video views during lockdown and got the internet buzzing – is starring in a new firefighting video.

During the pandemic, a viral video showed Darcey Cook running around the family’s back garden in a little firefighter’s outfit and using a garden hose to tackle a fire drawn in chalk on the fence.

Darcey Cook’s firefighter dad, Jamie, who is featuring his six-year-old in a new film, still cannot believe how big the 2020 video became.

“We didn’t expect it: we were just putting it out there for people to enjoy - and it just went crazy.”

Jamie explained that the only reason they shot the video was to alleviate the monotony of Covid restrictions:

“It was lockdown, at the point when people weren’t allowed out anywhere and kids were bored - and it was hot weather.”

Within weeks, the 2020 video had exploded. Along with national UK networks like ITV, the family were being bombarded for interviews by TV and radio stations in the US.

“Fox News picked up the story and put it all over their Instagram,” Jamie recalls.

“It was all pretty crazy,” he notes, bemused, “for a little kid in the back garden playing with her firefighting stuff.”

Now, Darcey, aged six, is starring in another video.

In the latest minute-long video, Darcey flies into 999 action mode once more when her firefighter’s bleeper alerts her to a ‘shout’.

She is then seen sprinting to her local fire station, where she swiftly gets decked out in firefighter gear, ‘drives’ a fire engine and saves the day with a hose.

The video is effectively a souped-up version of the original video made in 2020.

Jamie said the inspiration for filming the second video was straightforward:

“She was getting a bit too big for her little outfit so we went ‘Ah, let’s maybe do one more video’ while she can still fit in it.”

“So we just decided to re-enact it,” Jamie says, “but make it a bit better.”

The sentimental father says he is not bothered about whether or not the video becomes a worldwide sensation like the previous one.

“I’m not trying to get it to go viral,” he says, matter-of-factly: “it’s more just for me.”

Jamie joined the fire service shortly after Darcey was born. As well as working as a wholetime firefighter in Stanground, the 34-year-old is also an on-call crew commander at his local fire station in Whittlesey.

Some weeks he can work close to a hundred hours.

As a result, Darcey spends a lot of time down at the fire station. “She basically lives at the station with me,” says Jamie, laughing.

“Every time we have a charity car wash, she’s always out there in her little firefighting gear washing cars.”

So would it be fair to assume Darcey has aspirations to become a real-life firefighter when she grows up?

“She’s adamant that she wants to ride on a big red lorry and put out fires,” says Jamie proudly.

“And if one day we end up riding on the same fire engine together then that would be pretty cool.”