It started out like the hundreds of emergencies Ian Montgomery has been called out to in over 25 years, but it was the kind he dreaded the most.
His 91-year-old father-in-law, lapsing into unconsciousness after his blood pressure dropped dangerously low, was being rushed to hospital.
In the ambulance that day was Montgomery. He was there not as a son-in-law but in his capacity as a volunteer ambulance officer, a job alongside the other voluntary role he has been carrying out for nearly a quarter century as chief fire officer in the small settlement of Okiwi Bay in the Marlborough Sounds.
Happily, his father-in-law recovered. But it is the thought that the lives of family or friends might be in danger that worries him most whenever an alarm is raised.
"The worst thing is in an area like this we generally know the person we are going to help," he says. "You know them, you know their family; it can be the most stressful aspect of what we do.
"But you do it to put something back into the community and because the wins outweigh the losses."
Montgomery, who everyone knows as 'Monty', had a win of a different kind this week receiving an ASB Good as Gold award in recognition of his quarter century of work in co-ordinating and running the first response unit and the volunteer fire service in Okiwi Bay.
"Monty's story is one of incredible dedication to his local community," says ASB midlands regional manager Amanda Young.
"His work is invaluable. In small communities like Okiwi Bay having volunteers like him can mean the difference between life and death in an emergency and that kind of commitment is definitely worth celebrating."
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The bank has given him $10,000 to spend on a holiday. He is thinking of using it to travel to Singapore later in the year to celebrate his and his wife Pam's golden wedding anniversary marking their 50 years of marriage.
Montgomery says he could not do what he does without Pam's support. Often having to drop whatever he is doing to respond to an emergency, he frequently has to leave her for long periods to single-handedly run their business, the Okiwi Bay Holiday Park and convenience store.
The couple have long had a love affair with the bay. A popular South Island holiday destination known for, among other things, fishing, scuba diving, swimming, boating and bush walking, they were frequent visitors long before they moved permanently 26 years ago.
Two of Montgomery's close friends, Mark and Lynn Logan, have deep respect for him. "He helps anybody in need, he's one of those people who think nothing of going the extra mile for others," says Mark.
"He has an incredible wealth of knowledge and does so much behind the scenes for the community that people just never see."
It is not just frontline work he carries out; for years he has been the driving force in fund-raising for equipment and buildings to help keep the services running. The fire service is always looking for new recruits and Montgomery plays a key role in this as well.
And just recently he cancelled a holiday he and Pam were planning because he was worried the district, down on water and tinder dry from lack of rain, would be severely under-protected if he was away.
"It would have left only three fire crew here and because the fire danger was so high I thought it best I stay."
Now 72, Montgomery believes it was inevitable he would be involved with emergency services when he moved to Okiwi Bay: "I had been in the Coastguard in Nelson and I've been a first aider in all the jobs I've had."
Joining the fire service almost 26 years ago, he has also been an ambulance officer for 12 years and, in that time, has been on the frontline at countless emergencies.
Like the time he was among the first on the scene when a digger toppled off the back of a truck on an icy road near Okiwi Bay, or when he ferried two men to safety after their boat caught fire out to sea or when he spent an entire night in turbulent seas in Tasman Bay helping rescue two men tossed into the water when their dinghy tipped over in high winds.
The pair had left a third man and their sons (aged about 14 or 15 recollects Montgomery) in their yacht while they took the dinghy to haul in a net they had put out earlier in the day.
"I got the call about 8pm and took my boat for the search," he says. "It was a dirty night but we got the first man out quite quickly when we saw a hand come out from beneath a wave. He wasn't in a good way, he'd taken in a lot of water and I don't think he would have lasted much longer."
While a rescue helicopter continued the search for the second man, Montgomery and his crew spent the night on the water looking after the yacht and the three on board.
"Luckily by 2am the wind had dropped, the sea was dead calm and at first light we found the second man, alive and relatively well clinging to his overturned dinghy."