What does it take to be a firefighter? Reporter Eva de Jong finds out

Whanganui Chronicle’s I’m new to this series is back. Over summer our reporters have been trying something new, under the supervision and tuition of experts

To kick of this summer’s series Eve de Jong has a go at being a firefighter.

My desire to try out firefighting comes from wanting to live out my childhood dream of sliding down a fireman’s pole.

Sadly, one minute into my visit to Whanganui fire station that plan came crashing down — it’s a one-storey building.

Firefighting is one of those careers we’ve all heard about, but what the actual day-to-day job is like is pretty hard to imagine.

Could I handle waking in the middle of the night to go running into a burning hot building?

“We don’t run when the alarm goes off, we just walk,” senior station officer Shane Dudley said.

That dispelled another firefighting myth I’d picked up over the years.

I put on a fireman’s suit and gas mask. It’s difficult to convey just how heavy and hot the gear is, it’s kind of like being wrapped in a sweltering duvet and then trying to breathe through a snorkel.

Your first instinct is to want to rip the mask off your face.

Photo Gallery:

Image 1 of 10: Summer Series. I am new to this. Reporter Eva de Jong spends a morning with the local fire brigade. Photo / Bevan Conley

Curbing that rising sense of panic is something firefighters get trained for.

“A lot of the job is mental self-control,” qualified firefighter Matt Hausman said.

Claustrophobia is something firefighters overcome through training tests where they manoeuvre themselves through tight spaces in complete darkness.

But there are also heights. The ladder on the back of trucks is deceptively tall, but I found scaling it manageable by employing the trusty don’t-look-down technique.

Firefighting is physically exhausting. That’s why each day begins with an hour of personal training in the on-site gym.

“If you’re not fit and you’re working your arse off for that long, it’s bloody hard work,” Hausman said.

Fires are faster, hotter and more dangerous than they used to be because of modern plastics, which contain chemicals that can act like litres of petrol when set ablaze, Dudley said.

Water is of course, an essential tool, and the power of the hoses I got to try out was staggeringly impressive. It felt like grappling with a python once the pump got going and litres of water started pouring out.

As Hausman said, firefighters also just have a love for big toys.

The jaws of life make slicing through the steel frame of a vehicle like cutting through butter. Except they weigh a ton, and I barely had the arm strength to lift them up.

The role of a firefighter is varied. Photo / Bevan Conley

It’s one thing cutting open the roof of an empty car, but imagining trying to do that with a flailing, screaming person in the passenger seat is a different story.

Firefighters are attending more medical callouts which means there’s more exposure to traumatic events, said station officer Gerad Packard.

The night shifts — each firefighter has their own personalised locker and sheets in the single rooms — and long hours can also increase fatigue and mental stress.

“When you’re going to a fire or car crash it’s never nice, I guess you build up a tolerance to it and whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing I don’t know.” Hausman said.

The view from the top of the ladder. Photo / Bevan Conley

It’s a job that goes from 0-100 really fast.

That’s led to a stronger focus on providing counselling services, and checking in with team members to make sure they’re coping.

It also can be a fair bit of sitting around and joking with teammates. Every day is different.

Trust in your teammates is the backbone of the fire service, and is critical in often unpredictable situations.

If a house is clogged with smoke it’s impossible to see anything in front of you. There are radios inside the masks that allow firefighters’ to communicate.

“A new guy will just look at the flames and run towards them, whereas the older guys can look at the colour and movements of the smoke, and the construction of the building and know how it’s going to burn.”

In terms of my own firefighting abilities I think I’d need to do some heavy lifting before I’d be ready to take on the job, but from what I’ve seen Whanganui is in pretty safe hands.

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.