You're only 25?! What is all this, "by the time I am 40" BS!

Read through these threads, regionals are begging for pilots. Of course, you are going to have to finance the training somehow. Since you live in the UK, I suppose you get a month vacation std. What you could do is use your vacation to come to the US, and get your PPL--over a period of a few vacations. If you get your ratings, instruct for a little while then head to Alaska, you can get some very valuable hands on experience and decent pay after a while. Then leverage your firefighting experience into the forestry dept. and eventually work as a fire suppression pilot.

Anyway you slice it, becoming an actual working pilot is a tough road to hoe. You are going to have to sacrifice a lot of money, income potential, friends, family time, and maybe a stable future. There are plenty of 40 year olds with no family chasing this "dream". Just make sure you want it.