Tuesday, Feb 19, 2019
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Firefighters Scott Donaldson and Glenn Sowman are two of the local firefighters who travelled north last week to assist with fighting the Nelson fires. PHOTO JAIME PITT-MACKAY 180219-JPM-0177
Doing their bit in the Nelson fire BY JAIME PITT-MACKAY JAIME.P@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
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All eyes have been fixed on the steady clouds of smoke rising from the hills on the outskirts of Nelson over past two weeks, but Ashburton firefighters Glenn Sowman, Scott Donaldson and Dean Carr have been part of the hundreds of firefighters battling the blaze on the ground. For Sowman, the task of keeping the blaze contained to the 2300 hectares it had burned carried extra emphasis, having a connection to the small town of Wakefield that was evacuated due to the threat of the blaze. “I grew up in Wakefield so it was pretty
surreal to go back and help out,” he said. “It had an eerie feeling after the evacuation but it was good to see when all the people were let back in.” The trio travelled north on Monday with firefighters from Alford Forest and Timaru for a four-day stint assisting other firefighters fighting the fire last week. “There was a lot of grunt work, spotting fires and dampening down, we had a good idea what it would be like,” Sowman said. “We were starting at 6am and would be home by 9pm. “We would wake up, go to Brighton and get a feed from the army, have
a briefing, go to our sector for the day, come back and have a feed and go to bed.” Based in tents for the four days, the hot and dirty work was tiring, and made the relief of a shower a simple luxury for those on the front lines. “It was filthy, it was hot 27 degree days and the ground was still very hot and there was soot and dirt everywhere,” he said. “You certainly appreciated the shower at the end of the day.”
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