Bay Harbour: February 16, 2022

Bay Harbour News Wednesday February 16 2022
8
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
‘Saving a life is probably up there as
the most satisfying thing you can do’
PHOTO:
KRISTIE
BOLAND
ON DUTY: Bob Palmer has been a volunteer fire fighter for
35 years and chief fire officer for Diamond Harbour for five
years. Above - Palmer (left) with fellow Diamond Harbour
fire brigade volunteers Micki Bell, Jim Pollard and Nathan
Graham after a rescue.
Bay Harbour News
starts a series today on
our fire chiefs. Reporter
Kristie Boland talks to
Diamond Harbour chief
Bob Palmer
A FIREMAN of 35 years, a
policeman of 34 years and an
ambulance officer of 16 years,
Bob Palmer is someone you want
to have around.
The Diamond Harbour
community has had Palmer and
his wife Nicky for over 40 years
now.
A highly skilled man with
a humble, down-to-earth
personality, Palmer has worn the
uniform of all three emergency
services with pride.
“My wife was never very happy
because I’ve got a closet full of
uniforms,” he said.
When Palmer married Nicky,
they were looking to live in
Lyttelton.
“It was a bleak day in Lyttelton,
then we looked across at
Diamond Harbour and all the
bluffs had lovely sunshine on
them so we went for a drive, saw
a for sale sign, gave them a ring,
first house we looked at and we
bought it.”
The house, on the same street
as the fire station, is where they
have lived ever since.
They have three children – two
live in Diamond Harbour and
are also a part of the brigade.
Born in Sydenham, Palmer
lost both of his parents to illness
when he was just 10 and was
brought up in children’s homes.
He went to Burnside High
School and worked a number of
jobs in his early adult life before
joining the police in 1973.
For 34 years, Palmer travelled
up and down the country doing
various work for the force.
In 1985, he joined the
Diamond Harbour Volunteer
Fire Brigade.
While volunteering at the
brigade and working at the
Lyttelton Police Station, Palmer
said he became interested in the
number of medical emergency
calls the brigade was getting and
decided they needed to upskill.
So, 16 years ago, he joined St
John as a volunteer.
“Volunteer people tend to do
more volunteer work than they
should, they just get drawn to it
somehow. I only do it because
I enjoy it. I wouldn’t do it if I
didn’t like it,” Palmer said.
He attained an ambulance officer
level and after retiring from
the police in 2005, worked for
St John in the communications
centre and later on the road as a
medical alarm rep.
Now retired, Palmer remains
on the St John Banks Peninsula
area committee.
He has been chief fire officer in
Diamond Harbour for five years.
Palmer said one particular
rescue 25 years ago stands out
for him.
“We’d just started to learn
more about CPR and got called
to a cardiac arrest in Purau
and a youngish man in his late
thirties was camping with his
wife and their young kids and he
arrested.”
An off-duty police officer was
administering CPR when the
fire brigade arrived. The officer
handed it over and Palmer and
his team did CPR on the man
for 40 minutes until the rescue
helicopter arrived.
The fire brigade later received a
call from the hospital.
“They referred to ‘the miracle
man’, a guy that had basically
survived 40 minutes-plus of good
CPR and that it had kept him
alive, he survived,” said Palmer.
The rescue was a key motivator
for Palmer and his team to
continue to learn new skills and
to raise money for equipment,
such as a defibrillator.
“That [rescue] was a stand out
because it was a success, as well
as it started us off,” he said.
Over his time working in three
emergency services, Palmer has
seen his fair share of trauma.
“I have the luxury of working
for lengthy periods in all three
emergency services, so there’s
not a lot that will shock me or
surprise me. If anything, its
made me stronger in what I do.”
Palmer said he does it all for
his community.
“Our community is us, it’s
our families, it’s our friends, it’s
everyone that we live around,
and it would irk me if I found
that there was something that
could have been done to help
someone and it wasn’t done.”
Palmer continues to pass on
his knowledge and skills to
volunteers and said they are
always on the lookout for new
recruits.
“Fighting fires is enormously
satisfying, but saving a life –
and we’ve saved one or two – is
probably up there as the most
satisfying thing that you can do,”
he said.
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