Helping others in Black Saturday fires

RECOGNITION: Carterton Mayor Ron Mark acknowledging Mark Allingham for his National Emergency Medal (Australia) for the 2009 Victoria bush fires. PHOTO/VOMLE SPRINGFORD

A Carterton man who helped battle one of Australia's deadliest bushfires - the Black Saturday fires in 2009 - has been recognised for his service.

He received a National Emergency Medal this year, awarded by the Australian Governor General.

The medal is part of the Australian honours system and is given for sustained service during a nationally-significant emergency.

Carterton Mayor Ron Mark acknowledged Mr Allingham's service yesterday at the Carterton District Council chambers.

"It's a very special person who steps forward to put themselves in danger for others, this medal recognises that."

Mr Allingham and his family were living in the small town of Wandiligong in north-eastern Victoria and experienced three major bushfires in six years, including Black Saturday which killed 173 people and left 7500 displaced.

He was a municipal emergency resource officer of the fire co-ordination centre, trying to control the fires and get people out of harms way, while his wife Tanya and two young sons were at home, always ready to flee.

Mr Allingham said it was really families that needed to be congratulated.

"They [his family] have been in three major national emergency fires, seeing the fire come over the ridges at their home.

"I think they are proud of what I do in these circumstances but I am exceptionally proud of how they always stuck it through.

"Brothers looking after each other, helping their mum out and this is what all families of emergency workers do and need to be recognised for it."

Because they lived in constant threat, the sky glowing orange from fires right on their doorstep, Mrs Allingham said she always kept a box of photos and keepsakes ready to go.

"We were 1km down the road from one fire," she said. "They go on for so long, the first one went for six weeks."

It was always cloudy from smoke and ash would fall from the sky, which could spark the next fire, she said.

The Allinghams still have friends there who say the fires are now part of everyday life.

"Some people were really into defending their homes but for us it was just get out," said Mr Allingham. "They are so unpredictable."

The fires were the reason they moved back to New Zealand in 2010.

Mr Allingham said he still finds it difficult to think about the people whose lives were lost and it was distressing working with firefighters, some who lost family members in the midst of the crisis.

He said it was also difficult dealing with dying animals because the resources to help them were destroyed.

"It was gruesome. Some of the things you have to deal with in a fire you just really never expect."

Mr Allingham credits his time in the NZ Army's elite Regular Force Cadet School, which Mr Mark also was in, for his ability to work in emergency situations.

The school, which no longer exists, accepted people as young as 15 and most at 18, went on to serve for the army like Mr Mark and Mr Allingham.