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SELWYN TIMES Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi<br />
Wednesday <strong>December</strong> 5 <strong>2018</strong> 15<br />
as a volunteer firefighter<br />
We took lots of chimneys down<br />
and stuff like that, assisted people<br />
were we could. We had flooding<br />
in Leeston in 2013 where we<br />
probably responded to about<br />
80 calls in a 24-hour period.<br />
All sorts of things. Just getting<br />
someone out of a car and getting<br />
them off to hospital, knowing<br />
that they’re going to make a good<br />
recovery is a pretty major thing<br />
as well.<br />
Of the call-outs you’ve<br />
attended have there been ones<br />
you haven’t been able to forget?<br />
There’s always calls that will<br />
leave a mark on you and we do<br />
get really good psychological<br />
through Fire and Emergency<br />
New Zealand. But yeah, whilst<br />
you learn to cope and deal<br />
with it, and I don’t see I have<br />
any issues around it, you still<br />
remember them.<br />
How did you become the chief<br />
fire officer and when did that<br />
happen?<br />
I’ve been chief for about four<br />
years I think. I’ve been an officer<br />
since 1980 in the brigade and<br />
just slowly worked my way up<br />
the ranks from station officer,<br />
to third officer to deputy to fire<br />
chief.<br />
How have you found it being<br />
fire chief?<br />
Good, I’m really enjoying it.<br />
ACKNOWLEDGED: Lloyd Clausen receiving his Gold Bar for 49<br />
years service from area manager Mike Johns.<br />
You don’t jump in the truck unless<br />
you really have to like I did<br />
this morning. As the calls get<br />
bigger, the rank required to take<br />
command is bigger. So we had<br />
the honey factory fire last year I<br />
think, I took command of that in<br />
the end. We had about seven to<br />
eight appliances there. You’re not<br />
so much the frontline firefighter<br />
when you’re the chief.<br />
How do you process some<br />
of the devastating things you<br />
see?<br />
After you’ve been there a while<br />
you have a bank of memories and<br />
ways of coping. We have debriefs<br />
within the brigade. People will<br />
come out from FENZ and assist<br />
with the debriefs and we have the<br />
back-up of help if you need it and<br />
that’s all highly confidential.<br />
What would you say is<br />
the hardest part of being a<br />
firefighter?<br />
I’ve talked to a few families<br />
who have had a death in the family,<br />
yeah, that’s pretty tough. If it’s<br />
a young person it’s that loss the<br />
of the life that’s not going to be<br />
fulfilled.<br />
What’s the most rewarding<br />
part of the role?<br />
To be able to help someone<br />
out. We went today to where a<br />
lady had a fire in her kitchen,<br />
her dishwasher was on fire. She<br />
did all the right things, we got<br />
around there and got the fire<br />
extinguished, there was plenty<br />
of black smoke coming out of<br />
the door when we went there.<br />
The guys went in with breathing<br />
apparatuses, got the fire out, no<br />
other damage to the property<br />
apart from the smoke and a bit of<br />
water damage.<br />
Do you have any plans to<br />
finish up with the brigade?<br />
Don’t let the cat out of the bag,<br />
no. I have no immediate plans to<br />
resign from FENZ, no.<br />
How long have you lived in<br />
Leeston for?<br />
My whole life. My grandfather<br />
was a saddler, he was here as a<br />
young fella in 1890 working for<br />
one of the local saddlers and<br />
then in 1912 when the business<br />
came up for sale, he bought the<br />
business. My father took over the<br />
saddler business and my brother<br />
took over from him. I’ve been<br />
overseas, done an OE and all that<br />
sort of stuff, but I’m half an hour<br />
from Hornby if you need to go,<br />
you’ve got everything in the town<br />
within reason.<br />
Do you have a partner and/or<br />
children?<br />
Yes, I’ve got a partner named<br />
Kathryn. She has a daughter<br />
in Hamilton and I have a son<br />
in Nelson and a daughter in<br />
Leeston. We have a couple of<br />
grandchildren.<br />
What are some of your<br />
hobbies?<br />
Well I don’t do a lot of hobbies<br />
as such. In the summer months<br />
I manage one of the swimming<br />
pools in Leeston . . . I’m on the<br />
council committee, I’m chairman<br />
of the Leeston Community<br />
Committee, I’m on the area<br />
committee for St John. I suppose<br />
those sorts of things with the fire<br />
brigade keep you reasonably<br />
busy so I don’t do a lot of fishing<br />
or anything like that these days.<br />
I enjoy reading a book<br />
occasionally if I get time<br />
Family is a big hobby. Yes,<br />
they’re the most important<br />
thing in your life really.<br />
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