Selwyn Times: February 21, 2017

SELWYN TIMES Tuesday February 28 2017 11
does his bit for St John
Is the Port Hills fire the
biggest you have been to?
The common chat amongst
the firefighters was that it was
the biggest that any of us had
ever been to – I have been in the
Rolleston brigade for 17 years
and it was by far the biggest for
me. It was also a very different
type of fire behaviour to what we
are used to. There were a number
of paid staff and Rural Fire guys
who have fought similar fires in
the United States and Australia
but in the main none of us had
experienced something like that
in Canterbury.
How did you feel about the
support the firefighters received
from the community?
That was very cool and humbling.
The brigade was donated
beer, soft drink and baking and
there were thank you letters. A
number of kids from Clearview
Primary School made cards
which were dropped off and we
reciprocated by giving them an
old fire brigade helmet with a
message of thanks on it.
With St John, how often do
you get called out to support
ambulance?
It varies, typically it would
be a couple of times a week.
Normally it is because they need
some support with intensive care
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or because the local ambulances
have all been tasked to other jobs
and I can get to an incident [in
Selwyn] significantly faster than
a town ambulance can.
How often do you get called
out with the Fire Service?
With the Rolleston brigade, one
out of every four weeks you will
be on call. During the busy period
you can get called out eight
or nine times a week, whereas
during the quiet period, which is
winter for us, you just get one or
two jobs a week.
I know the fire brigade get
called out to accidents and
things as well. Do you ever gets
called out twice with both fire
and ambulance?
At times I can be paged by
both fire and ambulance. The
most common example would
be a motor vehicle crash. What I
tend to do is go to the fire station,
make sure the guys know I am
going and there is someone else
able to crew the truck. I will normally
just go to the scene in my
car and do the patient care and
I am there if my fire crew needs
EMERGENCY: Dan Ohs
volunteers for the Fire Service
and works for St John.
some support as well.
When you say that you get
called out to support ambulance
staff sometimes, is that because
you have quite specific skills
that not all staff would have?
Yes. Relative to the crews that
are normally on crew in Selwyn
I have a range of drugs and skills
which I can use which it isn’t
common for us to use.
You would attend a number
of serious incidents throughout
the year. How do you personally
handle that? Is it difficult, or are
you used to it?
I don’t think you ever get used
to it. I think if you get used to it
you run the risk of not having
the empathy which is required to
attend the incident and comfort
both patients and their families.
The best method for debriefing
that I find, and it’s very personal
for anyone, is to talk to your
colleagues and to talk to family.
Both St John and the Fire Service
provide us with peer support options
– people you can phone up
confidentially if you don’t want
to talk to your local people, and
you can talk to without talking to
someone who you know.
Have you had previous jobs
before working full-time since
emergency services?
I have been with St John since
I was in my early 20s and prior
that I was just sort of studying
and doing bits and pieces jobs
like pumping gas and working
at sawmills and things. I became
involved with emergency services
when I moved out to Rolleston
and had no conception that there
was this thing called volunteer
firemen. I was working at the
local petrol station and made this
association between this funny
air raid siren going off and the
fact the fire truck was going past
every time that it did. When
one of the guys from the brigade
came in, in uniform, I asked him
about it and he said come down
and have a look. So I went down
and the guy who was in charge of
the brigade at that point, Glenn
Cockburn, also worked for ambulance.
I joined the fire brigade
and then he encouraged me to
start volunteering with St John.
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