Taupō District career and volunteer firefighters were honoured to be the recipients of the Harcourts Good Sort award. Pictured are Red Watch, with station officer Al Green at centre.
Taupō District career and volunteer firefighters were honoured to be the recipients of the Harcourts Good Sort award. Pictured are Red Watch, with station officer Al Green at centre.
The Taupō District fire brigade are the latest recipient of the Good Sort award.
On Friday, Taupō mayor David Trewavas presented Fire and Emergency New Zealand station officer Al Green with the award sponsored by Harcourts Taupō for organisations and individuals that make an outstanding contribution to the Taupō District community.
Accepting the award on behalf of all firefighters including career firefighters, volunteer firefighters, and Rotorua-based support staff, Al says as an organisation firefighters are not very good at receiving praise.
"It's important to acknowledge the support from the community."
Mayor David Trewavas says Al and the rest of the Fire and Emergency Taupō team do a wonderful job keeping us safe.
Al is one of four station officers at the Taupō Fire Station and his crew is known as "Red Watch". Crew members include qualified firefighter Jazz Packer, senior firefighter Paul Wilson who is currently on leave with senior firefighter Craig Farrar covering his absence, and driver/pump operator senior firefighter Mark Doohan.
Attending fires and road accidents makes up the bulk of the work carried out by Red Watch, who have been together as a team for three years.
"We're a pretty close team and work well together," Al says.
Al says they often get cards, phone calls or home baking from the public after attending a road accident or a fire.
"We don't look for the publicity or acknowledgment. We do the job because it's something we love to do. We do it to give back to the community, for the camaraderie, we all enjoy the training and support we get from Fire and Emergency, and get satisfaction from working as a team."
They normally do two day shifts that are 10 hours long, and two night shifts that are 14 hours long. Sometimes they work a 24-hour shift if a crew member is away.
"I do the day shift, then I'm on a pager and it can go off at any time."
Al says a typical day starts with an equipment check and then the whole watch goes to a gym in town to train together. He says it's great to get off the station and into the public eye and also helps keep the crew fit.
"We get to know the gym regulars and have struck up a couple of friendships over the years."
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) Taupō station officer Al Green accepts the Harcourts Good Sort award for February 2022 on behalf of all Fenz Taupō District staff. Photo / Rachel Canning
Back at the station, the crew will do training evolution in between callouts. Sometimes they go to the car wreckers in Taupō and get a wreck to practise their extraction-from-car technique with their hydraulic rescue tools. They also have a close relationship with St John Taupō Ambulance Station and sometimes do a combined training event.
"We co-respond with St John when there is a respiratory event. We've got a defibrillator on board and are trained in first aid. Early intervention can make a huge difference to the patient's outcome."
Al says they also have a close relationship with Taupō Police.
Jazz joined the fire crew "because I had a whole bunch of friends who were firefighters".
She started out as a career firefighter after going through the 18-month application process.
"What I like most about the job is helping people," Jazz says.
In a prior life Craig was a fly fishing guide who volunteered for the fire service. He then took the opportunity to become a career firefighter.
"I like the variety. Every day is different."
The Taupō fire service was nominated three times for the Harcourts Good Sort award before they accepted the nomination, with Al saying as an organisation they tend to shy away from publicity.
