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13 August 2024
Local athlete heads to World Triathlon
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New Feature! Community Characters Page 29
Left to right: Amanda Evans, Judith Kirchman and Jeff Gear.
Community spirit alive and well in Cooroy BY DANIELLE SHAFIK
LIVING in Cooroy is all about community spirit for 91-year-old Judith Kirchman who was rescued by two courageous BP attendants on Friday 12 July. Judith left the stove on at 10:15 am and went to take a nap, which caused massive amounts of smoke to trigger the fire alarm. Console operator Jeff Gear was outside on smoko when he asked supervisor Amanda Evans if she could smell smoke. Amanda said they both smelt it at that point and saw it coming out the back door of Judith’s flat.
“Jeff opened the back door and could smell it; then we heard the fire alarm go off,” she said. “We left the station with one of our kitchen team members and got into the flat to find Judith fast asleep in bed.” Amanda also went into the kitchen and saw the pot on the stove, which she immediately turned off. “There was no fire as yet which was lucky but by then the unit was full of smoke,” she said. “I woke Judith while Jeff was on the phone with the fire brigade and ambulance. He was trying to arrange for them to come through as it's not an easy place to get to.”
Judith said she couldn't hear the alarm as she was tone deaf. “It was screaming its head off, but I still couldn't hear it,” she said. “Those bloody wonderful people rang the ambulance, knowing my age and the smoke and what have you, and rang the fire truck. They knew just what to do. Jeff was down the alleyway waiting for crews, to guide them in. The whole response was just amazing. They could have just picked up the phone and left it at that.” Judith was very grateful that the pair had gone out of their way to save her life. “These people stopped what they
were doing even though they were really busy working,” she said. “I can't thank them enough. I’m alive today because of that. There is just a real sense of community spirit behind all this. “Jeff and Amanda come from different backgrounds, have had different upbringings, lead busy lives, and as a group they came in, got me out, called the services and really worked in unison. “When disaster struck, community spirit shone through.” BP manager Sue Kane said her team had known Judith for years and she was not surprised at their reaction.
“If they hadn't gone over there, she would have died,” she said. “They really went out of their way to make sure she was ok, acting quickly and very diligently to save her.” Amanda said she held no concerns for her own safety at the time. “We just wanted to get in there to poor Judith and make sure she was okay and get her out of there,” she said. “We know she is quite frail, so she was really all we were thinking about at the time.”
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Cooroy Rag, 13 August 2024 - Page
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