Fire Service officer attended 7000 calls

Press, 10 November 1986, Page 5

Fire Service officer attended 7000 calls

The first fire a retiring New Zealand Fire Service divisional officer, Mr Murray Stoddard, attended was one in an oven, 33 years ago. “I didn’t help put it out, just stood outside waiting,” he said. “A full crew wasn’t needed for an oven fire.”

Since then, Mr Stoddard estimates, he has attended more than 7000 call-outs.

“That is a a rough estimate; but one year I kept a diary and there were about 220 that year. So multiply that by 33 years and that’s quite a few.” A great deal has changed in the Fire Service in those 33 years.

The work has become more complicated. Firemen are expected to cope with accidents, chemical spillages, and gas leaks as well as fires. The nature of fires now is different from those of 30 years ago because of different building materials. “An ordinary house fire can be quite complicated these days because of fumes from burning plastic,” Mr Stoddard said.

Equipment has changed and so have training techniques. “You cannot compare the old open fire trucks of 30 years ago with the appliances now,” he said.

The hours a fireman works have been completely changed in his time, too.

“I started working two days on and one day off,” he said. “Then it went to one day on and one day off. Now it is two days on days, two days on nights, and four days off.”

One element that has not changed is the tragedy of every fire.

“You can’t think about the human side of it while you are doing the job,” Mr Stoddard said. “If you do, it affects your ability to do it.” The heartbreak was once the first emergency was over, finding neighbours to look after people and trying to reconstruct what happened. Common sense was the

first requirement for any fireman, not heroics.

“Your common sense is half the battle, knowing when to rush in and when not to rush in,” he said. “The heroics can sometimes come out of common sense actions.”

Mr Stoddard plans to fish and caravan in his retirement.

“That’s after I have go! out of the routine of waking up at 5.45 each morning.”