Essential workers: Volunteer Firefighter

Words by Liam Stretch. Art by Talisker Scott Hunter.

Fires. They don't take a break.

It was a crisp Canterbury morning, Rocket Power's opening credits were playing on the television, and I had just finished my piece of Marmite and cheese toast. I was eyeing up my sweet second act – peanut butter and jam – when the family's gaze was drawn to the neighbour's house.  Along the fence line, we could see forks of flames licking up the garage wall and smoke rising to the grey sky above. Having rung 111, my mother charged over, landline in hand, to alert those next-door of the impending danger. This was quickly followed by a steadfast response of the fire service, managing to rescue a gas bottle before the situation accelerated. This was my first real-world experience with firefighters, I will never forget the speed they moved at, the hum of the engine, and the care in which they performed their duty. I was 8, and since then, I have had a profound respect for these folks.

As such an important role in the function of a safe society, it's a no-brainer that these people have and will continue to work as the different levels of lockdown continue. I had the privilege of having a brief chat with a volunteer firefighter; someone who in the most literal sense does not get paid to put their life on the line.  

Justus is a volley (volunteer firefighter), and as such, on any given day, he always has an ear to the siren. You'll be familiar with these if you are from a small town or you've ever been on holiday to Wanaka or Akaroa. 

"As a volley, we just respond when the siren goes off usually. So, a normal day [I may be] working or chilling etc. and when the siren goes off whoever's around shoots to the station and jumps on the truck." As a threat that is as fast-moving as the flames themselves, COVID-19 has had an impact on the way volleys carry out their work too. The structure of the response has been altered to ensure the safety of all involved and, in an effort to reduce the harm to those around them also.

"We've broken into three watches which are on for 48 hours at a time. If your watch is on and the siren goes you respond, outside of that [you respond] only if the duty watch requests extra personnel for a big job. This reduces our bubbles from the entire station to only five other people, so in case one watch gets sick, we can still respond."

Justus' workload has reduced slightly from 2019, but the nature of what he and others respond to has become somewhat more trivial. "From last year, we only get a call out once every three days, but it has quietened down a bit during the lockdown. Mostly it's lockdown just like everyone else, with occasionally shooting off to investigate reports of smoke or whatever else we've been called to. Initially, people seemed to think because there was a lockdown the fire ban wasn't in place anymore, so they lit bonfires/rubbish fires which we had to put out and tell them off."

Given the way things have changed, I gather Justus would rather people didn't waste firefighter's time with a lack of common sense; this is on top of the extra time it takes to clean down equipment following a response. For Justus, the biggest challenge during lockdown is "having to disinfect the entire truck after a call out, even if it was a false alarm and no-one left the cab (cabin)".

Despite these challenges, Justus has felt safe during this process primarily due to Fire and Emergency New Zealand's (FENZ) response including clear guidelines and some extra PPE, as well as the experience of his colleagues.

Justus does have a message to keep us all in the clear, though.

"Keep staying safe, chill out on the roads once the restrictions loosen up; there are no tourists to get angry at (car crashes suck)!"

For now, Justus is planning what escapades he can get up to once the restrictions lessen. "[I'm] planning all the adventures we can have once we're in the appropriate lockdown level – now that we basically have the country to ourselves; no tourists," he laughs.

Thanks, a whole awful lot, Justus. And, to all you glorious readers, if you are looking for something to stretch your community service muscle, FENZ is always looking for volunteers.