Probably one of the quietest winters ever for the brigade. There were only 8 emergency callouts in the two months since the last report. None were serious fire incidents, although one was a chimney fire that was reported to have spread to the ceiling. Fortunately it was just discolouration from the heat but was cause of great concern for the residents and the responding brigades. It is our standard practice to automatically have additional resources alerted and on the way for reported structure fires, just in case.
The brigade assisted medical crews on 3 occasions, one which required us to locate a landing site for a helicopter. Two calls were for possible vegetation fires that proved to be false alarms. One call out was to give assistance to a home owner to remove a tree inadvertently felled on the house while thinning the shelter belt.
Everyone is presumably aware to dial 111 in case of any emergency, police, fire or medical. How that call turns into a callout of the brigade was the purpose of a visit to the fire communications centre in Wellington for several members of the brigade this month.
Sitting with the team in Wellington we listened as actual emergency calls were received and then were able to watch the dispatcher notify the appropriate brigades. The dispatching system is highly computerised allowing the dispatcher to view not only street maps and photo images of locations like Google maps but also identify appropriate response levels for those locations. Once details of location and type of incidence are identified, pushing the button on the console initiates the system that raises the siren here in Martinborough and activates pagers worn by fire fighters.
Clearly the location and type of incidence and whether lives are at risk are most important. So if you ever have to make an emergency call, you may feel the dispatcher is being very detailed in their questions about these items and taking precious time. This confirmation of the location and other details is likely to take only a few seconds but it is so important to get it right. Take a deep breath and try to answer the questions. You will be talking to highly trained professionals but who want to help you and get you the help you need.
Here’s a useful tip especially if there are children who may have to make that call someday. Write out location details of the home, including the closest intersection, and homeowner’s names on a card by the phones. Under stress, many of these seemingly simple things can be a blank when….
Submitted by Richard Geisler for CFO Garry Jackson
