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In the darkness and chaos of last Saturday morning, volunteer firefighter Angela Gilmour at first didn't notice that the chimney had fallen through the roof of her house and was lying in pieces on the lounge floor.
"Because so much was smashing round us I had no idea the chimney came through the roof." Once out of the house he and daughter Isobel, 17, stood "dumbfounded" but not for long.
Gilmour, a volunteer at the Sumner volunteer brigade, knew she had a job to do. With 5-year-old son Blake safely at his father's house, she and Isobel headed for brigade headquarters. Gilmour didn't stop for the next 13 hours as she, and other rescue workers, worked to help residents whose houses had been badly damaged. For the next six days she worked to stabilise other people's chimneys and walls.
"In the first three days we were out 24/ 7.
"We had more than 300calls in four days. That's more than we'd get over three years."
Gilmour's son has been staying with his grandmother in Central Otago while Gilmour and her daughter have been staying with friends in Christchurch. It wasn't until Friday that Gilmour got a chance to go back to her damaged house. Yesterday was her first day off- she spent it at the brigade headquarters helping to sort out equipment. Next week the sales and merchandising specialist for Annah Stretton is due in Invercargill to style fashion shows and the following week she's due in Auckland for New Zealand Fashion Week.
She shrugs off the volunteers' superhuman effort.
"That's just what you do."
Christchurch based Air New Zealand pilot Winston Bowler, 47, arranged for time off following the quake to spend time with his family. But when the Bryndwr resident heard calls for help over the radio, the handyman thought his time would be better spent helping people.
This week Bowler, his son and a friend have spent every day checking damaged chimneys and dismantling them if need be.
"We just jumped in the truck and away we went. A lot of people are quite nervous and often what they need is some reassurance." He downplays his role in the clean up: "There are thousands of people doing exactly the same as I'm doing.
"The latest accessory for a vehicle in Canterbury is a ladder."
